The Power of Love
by PinkAngel90
Summary: Some philosophers believed that there is a special person for everyone out there. Some dedicated their lives trying to prove it. To him, it was all just a fairytale. But then, she walked in and turned his whole world inside out. And he didn't know if that's a good thing or not. The only thing he did know, is that he didn't like the large shit-eating grin on Tony's face one bit.
1. Chapter 1

***A/N: Hello wonderful readers! Before you start reading my story, I would like to point out a few things concerning my story.

First, I watched all of the Marvel movies about some of the characters that will be in my story and I would like to inform you right away, that I will be making _**a lot**_ of changes. Certain main happenings will remain the same. I will also include all movies, cartoons and etc. in this fic in a way I see fit, as well as add other Marvel characters/superheroes and their significant others.

Second, I may take certain ideas, suggestions and the like from all readers. I want to write a story that not only I will enjoy and like, but for everyone else to enjoy and like as well.

In advance, I would like to apologize for any kind of mistake (whether spelling or grammer) in the fic. English is not my first language, but I will make sure to check and correct any mistakes I find as soon as possible. If anyone spots a mistake or mistakes, I kindly ask you to inform me of it, so that I could correct it or them.

Next, please don't ask me when I will update. As a college student, I seldom have some free time for myself. But, I _**PROMISE**_ you that I will finish this story and any other story I write on this or any other site. There will be no discontinued stories from me or any stories put on hold (hiatus). No matter what!

Also, I kindly ask for all you readers not to insult my work. I can take critics, but not insults of any kind! If someone doesn't like my story or stories, then they shouldn't read them. This is **FANFICTION,** which means that I can write things in my own unique way (as long as I don't insult anyone's race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and the like).

I would love to get feedback from you guys, but not a hateful review or a mean PM. As I previously stated before, if someone doesn't like my work, then they shouldn't read it. If someone knows how to give an critic or perhaps a suggestion on how to improve this fic, I would love to hear (read) them.

-Next up, this story will be a Captain America/Steve Rogers and Virginia 'Pepper' Potts or Capsaicin fanfiction. I'm so sooorrrryyyy Pepperony fans, I, myself, am a hard Pepperony fan too. But I really wanted to write a fanfic about the two of them (Captain America and Pepper). I have a feeling that they kinda click somehow.

I mean, they are both mature, well-mannered, kind, determined and share a love for art. I know that, that isn't enough for a relationship, but bare it with me. They really do make a good couple (and if Tony wasn't in the picture, I would've totally shipped them).

Plus, Steve and Sharon? Ew, no. I mean, seriously? What the hell? They are just too wrong for each other!

Falling in love with your dead first love's niece? That's just so wrong on so many levels! Does girl code mean anything to you guys? Because, it certainly does to me!

I would have thrown a fit, if anyone from my family started dating my former lover or boyfriend! And I'm sure Peggy would have shot them both too!

I'm sorry Steve/Sharon fans, but I'm putting my foot down on that relationship. And I don't care if they ended up together in the movie and the comic book series! GIRL CODE!

-Moving on...

***In this fic Pepper's real name will be Peyton, not Virginia. I kinda like the name better (no offence to anyone whose name is Virginia). There is a very good reason why I chose Peyton to be Pepper's real name.

You see, I really hate it when I hear that there aren't many successful businesswomen in the world or women who have to work twice harder than men in order to get a job or have to do God only knows what in order to succeed. In this fic, I will portray Pepper as everything a true lady should be and put a muzzle on those individuals who like to subdue women directly or indirectly.

In this fic, I will use Pepper to break all stereotypes concerning employed women and blondes (since I saw that later on she became a blonde; in my fic she already is one. Here, she will be a natural gold and honey blonde).

Also, my Pepper won't look like Gwyneth Paltrow. No offence to her, she is an amazing woman and one mighty role model with an angelic voice. But, I always wanted to write a fic with my physical version of Pepper Potts even before I watched Iron Man. My version of Pepper has the body of Aracely Arambula (an amazing Latino-American actress and a breathlessly beautiful woman. You can check out her soap operas, if you don't believe me.) and the face of Amber Lancaster (her face was the only face close enough to my version of Pepper. You might remember her as Jenny Swanson from The Hard Times of RJ Berger).

Anyhow, that will be all from me, for now at least. Happy reading and I really hope to hear from you guys soon. Again, really sorry about the mistakes and everything. Love you all and see you soon!

 **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS AND PART OF THE STORY PLOT. I ONLY OWN THE OC'S AND THE OTHER PART (MY VERSION) OF THE STORY PLOT!**

* * *

 **Pre-Iron Man**

Peyton Potts tapped her fingers against the armrest of her family's car. She should have seen this coming really. She was the one who said that she wanted a challenge and a chance to prove herself. There had never been a time in her life, where she wanted to jump out of a moving car and run for her life. Unfortunately, it was too late to do that now. They already arrived to their destination.

Her sapphire blue eyes took in the large and admittedly, impressive building. The odd feeling that had been nagging her at the back of her head came back with a vengeance. The young blonde had to clench her legs in order to prevent herself from jumping out of the car and run for it.

She wasn't nervious.

No.

Nope.

No way!

Peyton Potts was anything but nervious. Not to sound arrogant or anything, but she had never been nervious. Ever. About anything in her entire life. When she wanted something, she went for it, made sure that she was the best and on top. That was how she was and how she was raised.

So, no. She was not nervious about the job. It's the _boss_ that's got her on edge. Turning back to look at her parents, Peyton met the warm gaze of her father's emerald green eyes.

She pouted at him and gave him a pleading look. Peyton knew that it wouldn't work on her father, but it was worth a shot. The sad puppy dog pout was her saved for situations she can't talk her way out of (which was exactly this situation). She even started slow blinking too. She was just that desperate!

The tall man chuckled at the face his youngest daughter was making. She looked like a lost little kitten, it was so adorable. She even slow blinked at him! It's such a shame it doesn't work on him. After all, he wouldn't be in the type of business he was in, if cute pouts like that could take him down or made him reconsider.

"Oh honey, it might not be that bad. For all you know, you might love working here. Right, Tom?" Her mother said gently in a thick foreign accent, trying to ease the young pouting blonde.

"I'm not nervious about working here, mother. It's the man I'll be working for, that concerns me." Peyton said to her mother, looking into her sky blue eyes that were always filled with love and warmth, with her own sapphire blue ones.

"Working for Mr. Stark won't be that bad, sweetheart. I've seen you tackle worse before. You'll do just fine, trust your old man on that." Her father winked at her playfully.

"Daddy, you do know just whom Anthony Edward Stark is and what he's like, yes? We _**are**_ talking about the same man who acts like a child, that loves to flirt with anything that has even an ounce of estrogen! For goodness sake, he came into our class wearing a 'Let's party hard!' T-shirt and some old Hawaiian shorts! He looked as if he was about to head over to a beach and not to meet with a class of the world's most brilliant minds! How can I possibly take him seriously? He is just so...insufferable! Just seeing him on the TV makes me want to throw something at the screen, let alone actually seeing him in real life!" Peyton ranted, all of her frustration finally coming out.

It was childish, she knew, but it was the truth! There wasn't a person in the whole world who hadn't heard of the infamous Tony Stark, of his attitude and behaviour around beautiful women.

"Which is why this will be a good learning experience for you." Tom stated calmly, trying to pacify his daugther's oncoming assault. He knew that she had a good point about that particular thing, but what's done is done. No turning back now. Peyton will have to get used to this kind of thing and to _those_ type of people if she wants to succeed in life.

Tom looked at his wife, her beautiful blue eyes gave him all the encouragement he needed to continue on. He turned to address his daughter, "Think about it, honey. If you can handle working with difficult people, then there is literally nothing anyone throws your way that you can't tackle down. Besides, you wanted a good challenge, well here it is. I know that you can do anything you put your mind to, you've proved that a long time ago. And you still do, cupcake. There is no one in the world who could beat you in anything. Especially not, when you actually try your hardest." Tom said grinning brightly, finally making his daughter smile a bit at the silly face he was currently making.

"There's more to this than what you're telling me, isn't there?" Peyton said slyly, already seeing through her father's happy-go-lucky grin. There is **always** a catch with him. He always made sure to go the extra mile on teaching the entire family about the true values and meanings of life with all its tricks and surprises.

"I told you she would figure it out, Tom." The older honey blonde woman laughed.

"Well, she _is_ _ **my**_ daughter, Celine." Tom boasted a bit, puffing his chest out jokingly, "Now, Peyton, when your headmaster told your class that all of you would be working for one of the best companies in the country and that the said company would give you internships in order to better qualify you for college, he also mentioned that all of you would start at the bottom, correct?"

"Yes, he did. That was one of the first things he mentioned to us before starting the lecture. Why do you ask?" She asked warily. Why did she have a feeling that she wasn't going to like where this was going?

"Well, on the last PTA meeting, we decided to change a few things last minute. So, you kids, aren't just going to start at the bottom, but at _the_ bottom. As in working with the cleaning staff for the next month, bottom. Since, you are going to need the _full_ experience in order to fully understand how a successful company works. So that tomorrow, when you have your own business, you'll be able to appreciate it better, the people you'll be working with and the people that will be working for you." Tom finished, eyeing his daughter trying to see how she will react.

The daughter in question had a neutral face on, which made it harder for the parent to guess how she will react.

"So what you are trying to tell me, daddy, is that my class and I will be spending the next month of our summer vacation cleaning offices, bathrooms and the like?" Peyton asked calmly, crossing her long legs in a lady-like matter.

"And fetching the occasional coffee, yes." Tom added, "That won't be a problem, will it honey? It's just for a month, after that you all go from department to department to see how everything's like and what to pay extra attention on. It's also a very good opportunity to make some good connections, which is extremely important for future reference. Trust me, I would know. I've been in your position once myself. It will be a great learning experience and opportunity for you."

"I figured that one out on my own, and I can see your point. It wouldn't be fair, if we just got higher positions that easily. God only knows, if there already aren't other people who worked here for a much longer period that deserve higher and better paid positions. I was just too concerned about the people I would be working with or for." Peyton said, feeling a little silly for not seeing that before.

"And you have every reason to worry about that, dear. You and your co-workers represent the company and people you work for, just like how your boss represents all of you. But, you should always look at the bigger picture. Not everything in life will be easy for you to take care of, but with each bump on the road, you will get stronger and grow as a person. You only need to use your head and be rational, then the answer will come to you." Celine said smiling at her child.

"Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself, honey." Tom said, kissing his wife's perfumed check tenderly as the forementioned women giggled breathlessly at the casual display of affection.

Peyton smiled softly at the love her parents had for each other. Even after twenty five years of marriage, they still act as if they were nothing but two newly made high school sweethearts.

Some people might find that disgusting, but it was quite the opposite for her (as long as it's under PG-13; there are just some things she could live without ever witnessing. Ever!).

Seeing her parents look so in love warms her heart and being. Their love was like a beautiful and magical fairytale. It was because of the strength of their love, that made her dream about meeting her own Prince Charming someday. Hopefully, he won't be rude, a pervert or a player.

"Peyton, honey, are you alright?" Her mother's voice broke her out of her reverie and brought her back from Dreamland.

Looking up at her parents, she noticed that they both looked a bit concerned. Blushing slightly and mentally scolding herself for being so absent-minded, she gave her parents a soft smile.

"Yes, I'm alright. I was just thinking about something." She said as she unbuckled her seat belt, "I'm sorry, if I worried you."

"It's alright, dear. As long as you're okay. But I just can't help but ask, are you certain you're ready for this, honey? I don't want you to do this out of obligation to us or anything. I want you to do this because you want to do this of your own free will and because you feel ready." Celine said frowning a bit as she just remembered to ask her daughter the most important question of all.

She wasn't those types of mothers who force their children to do something against their will. She always made sure that all of her children had a say in anything and everything concerning their lives.

To her, the most important thing in the world is her family's health and happiness. Especially, her own children's! Her prides and joys.

"Please don't worry about me, maman. I'm ready for this and I know that I can handle anything that they might throw my way. Everything will alright, I just need some time to adjust to this new system. I'm here to learn after all, and it's not like I have never cleaned or cooked before in my entire life. So, it shouldn't be _too_ difficult for me to get the right grasp on things." She said truthfully.

Peyton knows that it won't really be that easy, but she could take it. Now that she settled into the idea of working at Stark Enterprises for the next two or three summer vacations, adjusting won't be such a problem. She was very much a quick learner and she is eager to learn everything that she could.

So, it hardly mattered to her that she will spend an entire month being on back and call. It was for educational purposes and she will take full advantage of it.

She has a goal that she _will_ achieve. And she most definitely wasn't going to let the heir and face of the company get in her way. Or anyone else for that matter!

"Speaking of learning, you are still required to take and go to _all_ of your summer courses, as well as all of your extracurricular activities." Tom added, putting extra emphasis on the word 'all', before he went on.

"You still have a responsibility towards your schools and to your studies. As much as I would love to lighten up your load, honey, I can't."

"I know. I wasn't expecting you to. I already set my time aside just for all of my assignments, projects and extracurricular activities. Including all of the photo sessions, I will be doing this summer." Peyton stated calmly, she was used to this after all. She's been doing that her entire life.

"We know that you have a lot on your plate, honey. But, we can not let you go back on your word. When a lady makes a promise, she keeps it, dear." Celine interjected. She hated it as much as her husband did, but Peyton (as well as the rest of their children) needs to understand that life wasn't all fun and games.

There are a lot of obligations that they will have in the future, and the sooner they get used to it, the better it will be for them. Being a grown up is a lot harder, than it looked.

"I know, mother. Don't worry, I'm not upset. I'll take care of it." Peyton gave her parents another smile as she prepared her handbag, checking once more if she brought everything she might need.

"You have no idea, how relieved we feel right now. We don't like putting the pressure on you or your brothers and sisters. It's nessecary for you to learn now, rather then later. But, even your mother and I can admit, that you could use a hand or two. So, Sabine will be living here with you as well. She will help you with your studies and help you practice for all of the upcoming events you will be partaking in." Tom said.

"Daddy, is it really nessecary for me to still have Madame Pelletier look after me? I'm sixteen years old, after all. I think that I might be a little too old to still have a governess." Peyton said, feeling a little uneasy with the fact that she will be escorted _everywhere_ by a sixty-seven year old woman.

"Now, Peyton, we already talked about this many times before. Madame Pelletier has been working for our family for years now. And thus far, she had done extremely well with you girls. I know that your mother and I can trust all three of you with her, while we are away. So, Sabine will be staying by your side during your stay here. Right now, she's preparing both of your rooms at the penthouse suite we own here, _**and**_ _will_ come to pick you up as soon as you are done. She will also be the one to drive you to work in the morning." Tom said in a slightly stern tone of voice.

"Alright." Peyton said quietly, resisting the urge to groan and sulk at the same time. There was no way to sweet talk him into changing his mind now.

"Good. That was all I had to say, I..." The ringing of his cell phone interrupted him.

Looking at the caller ID, Tom groaned slightly. Celine giggled knowingly as her husband excused himself from their company and got out of the car to answer the phone.

Celine then turned her attention on her daughter, who had a very small adorable pout her face.

"Peyton, honey," she said as the girl starighten up in her seat, "I know that you want to prove to us how grown up you are, dear. But you know how your father is. He has a hard time letting you girls go. It's something that won't be changing any time soon, because he loves you and your sisters very much. You are his princesses and he just wants to protect you from any kind of harm. You'll know the feeling, when you have your own little bundles of joy. So, please don't be too bothered by the fact that Sabine will be watching over you for the time being. You just focus on your studies and your work. There is a time and a place for everything, dear." Celine finished while smiling at her youngest.

"That's something büyükanne would say. I think I've even read that in the book she's given me for my 12th birthday." Peyton said with a fond smile on her beautiful face.

"Your grandma knows quite a lot of quotes and wise old sayings. She is a very wise woman, dear. You should give her a call sometime when you're free. She would love to talk to you, dear." Celine said.

"I know. I love talking to her too. She always gives the best advice and has some really good stories to tell. I miss her, I think that I'm going to call her as soon as I get home."

"That would be perfect, dear. Now, Peyton, before your father gets back, I need to give you a few pieces of advice of my own." Celine stated, her face now serious.

Peyton now sat at attention. Whatever her mother will be telling her, will be of delicate nature. She only used that tone of voice, when she needed to say something serious and very important.

"I want you to know that, your father and I are very proud of you. We know that there is nothing in this world that you can't handle. We've seen you tackle down many opsticules along the way and we are positive, that you will be the best of the best. You are very sharp, intelligent, incredibly talented, gifted and wise. Especially for your age, honey. I know that you will make us even more proud." She began, "But, I want you to remember as long as you live. There are a lot of people who would do _anything_ to get what they want, sweetheart. Even if they had to sell their own souls in order to get it. Listen and observe very closely, dear. That's all you need to do, in order to see right through their masks and lies. I'll say this again, Peyton. Use your head and be rational. Remember that the heart doesn't have even a bit of reason to aid you in certain things. That's why you should just let your heart tell you whether something is right or wrong and your mind to guide you. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, dear?"

"Yes, mother. Please, don't worry. I can take care of myself. If I ever need anything, I'll either talk to Madame Pelletier or I'll just call you."

"That's all I needed to hear, mavi göz." Celine said giggling a bit. She couldn't even begin to describe the amount of relief she was feeling. She already knew that Peyton was far from naive, but one can never be too sure. It was better to be safe than sorry, after all.

...which reminds her of another thing she wanted to talk to her daughter about.

"Peyton, honey, there's one more thing I would like to talk to you about before you go."

"What is it, mother?"

"Now, I know that we already had a talk like this before, but I feel like we need to have it once more." Celine began uneasily, "As you know, you are a _very_ beautiful young woman. You come from a very good family, with prestige and a good family background. I know for certain that there are many who would love to take advantage of your good heart, which is why I want you to use your head instead. Especially around men and in the entire business world, that you are about to enter. Honey, I'm not going to tell you stories, how everyone is going to be sweet and kind to you. No. There will be many whom will try to bring you down and laugh while watching you burn. It's cruel, but it is how it is. If you climb the ladder, like I know you most certainly will, there will be a lot of people who will start all kinds of rumors about you. And I think you know the kind of rumors they will be, Peyton."

"Mother, I understand what you are trying to say. But please, trust me when I say that **that **will **never** happen. At least, not to me. I'll make sure of that. I promise."

"I know that, dear. Your colleagues, however, don't. And I'm not going to turn a blind eye to Tony Stark's attitude and behavior towards women. Yes, you are a minor now, but in a few years..."

"Mother, with all due respect, I believe that..." Peyton began, before her mother interrupted her.

"Bana bak, mavi göz. Senden çok önemli bir şeyi hatırlamanı istiyorum. Bir kadının gurur ve haysiyeti ince bir cama benzemektedir, çakıl bile içine bir girinti bırakacak kadar güçlüdür. Ya da kırarsın." Celine sternly stated in her native tongue and continued in the same tone of voice, "Do you understand me, Peyton?"

"Yes, I understand you, mother. You do know that we already talked about this before, yes? I just need you to trust me on this. I will be alright."

"Tavsiyemi alacağına bana söz ver. Ben sadece senin için en iyisini istiyorum, kızım." Celine said, her eyes almost pleaded her to just comply.

"Anne, ben senin tavsiye dinlemek söz veriyorum. İşten işim bittiğinde seni arayacağım. Şimdi gitmem gerek. Seni çok seviyorum." Peyton said as she kissed her mother's rosy cheeks, picked up her handbag and opened the door of the car.

"Kendine İyi bakım ve iyi olur, yavrum." Celine called out as her daughter got out of the car.

Peyton turned to wave her mother goodbye as her father made his way over towards her.

"Well, honey, this is it. Are you ready? If not, we can always turn back and go home instead." He said, his eyes were filled with amusement.

"Daddy! There is not a chance in the world, that I would just quit or run away. Especially, not after coming this far." Peyton said as she swatted her father's arm.

"Hey! It's my duty as a father to ask." He said jokingly, "But seriously now, are you sure you can do this. It's not going to be easy, at all. Honey, not only do you have to focus on all of your studies and your extracurricular activities, but you also have to model for your mom's brand and now this. I can't help but think that maybe, this wasn't such idea on my part."

"I can handle it. It's better sooner, rather than later. If _you_ could have done it when you were my age, then I will be able to do it too. After all, _I am_ _ **your daughter**_." She said in mock arogance.

"Damn right, you are. Sweetheart, I'm not gonna waste my time giving you last minute advice, like your mother did. The only thing I'm going to tell you right now, is that there will be things that you need to give up in order to gain something. That's how life is, darlin'. If you want to take something, then you need to give something too. If you want to study, work, go out and party all night long, I will tell you right away to forget about getting good results. It's going to get a lot harder from here on out and I won't always be there to help you if you need any help." Tom said, caressing the young girl's golden curls.

"With my schedule and Madame Pelletier watching over me like a hawk for the rest of the summer, going out will be the last thing on my mind. Besides, I know how to prioritize. I'm not a little girl anymore."

"You will always be my little girl. No matter how old you are. Remember what we talked about last night, Peyton. It will help you out more than you think. Now, I want you to go in there, win and kick ass." Tom said, patting her head gently, "I have a funny feeling that in a few years now, you will own every single one of them. You're an extremely sharp and clever girl, you could give Tony Stark and the lot a run for their money. Just be careful. And don't forget to call us by the end of the day, okay princess?" He asked as he embraced his daughter.

"I will, I promise." Peyton said as she let go of her father and walked towards the entrance of the large company.

Tom watched on as his youngest child disappeared behind the thick glass doors. He sighed and ran his hands through his chocolate brown hair, not caring that he was messing it up.

Turning around, he walked over to the car his lovely wife was waiting him in.

"What do you think will happen now, Tom?" Celine asked as the man sat down in his seat next to her.

"Well, she won't disappoint us, that's for sure. If I know our daughter, she will be turning heads left and right. And not just because she's beautiful." Tom added the last part lightly, hoping to ease the rising tension a bit.

"Are you absolutely sure that she will not be overwhelmed by all of the work you given her? It seems a little too much to me." Celine asked, her maternal instincts were acting up at the thought of one of her precious babies struggling with anything.

"Celine, I didn't give her anything she can't and won't be able to handle on her own. She's very observant, sharp, determined and hard-working. Not to mention a very fast learner. All of which, are very good atributes to possess. Trust me, honey, there is nothing out there that our kids can't handle. Just have some faith."

"But, what about the..."

"Don't worry about that, love. Everything is developing as it should. Now, come on, we have a meeting in 10 minutes and you know that one eyed idiot can't function without us." Tom said with a small smirk.

Celine didn't say or add anything after that. As they drew away from Stark Enterprices, she couldn't help but wonder how things will turn out in the end.

* * *

 **2 years later**

Peyton Potts sighed as she looked over the files she got from her supervisors a few minutes ago. Today, she was working in the accounting department. Unfortunately.

Not that she didn't love math. Because she did, very much so at that.

But she was starting to get a little annoyed by all the looks certain men were sending her way.

Honestly, hadn't they heard of discretion? Apparently not, if they weren't even bothering to act casual or even pretend that they were working. Or even doing anything really!

(One would think that they didn't even have anything to do! They were probably hoping to give her all of their workloads, so that they could either go to lunch early or continue to stare at her.)

As soon as everyone heard that she had recently turned 18 years old, it was as if all the office perverts picked that up on their in-built radar and went out of their way to flirt with her and hit on her whenever they had the chance to do so.

She was used to that type of attention already, but she was trying to work here for God's sake!

She was amazed how her face hadn't melted from all the looks that were directed at her from all sides. Now more then ever, did she wish to have a secluded cubicle or even an office! Anything would be greatly appreciated, condidering the fact that she felt like a lamb that just walked into a lion's den.

She had half a mind to take out her tazer and pepper spray from her handbag.

Peyton inconspicuously took a deep breath, counted backwards from ten to one and continued on with her work, completely ignoring the men around her as she immersed herself in her work.

After a while of going through the files and checking them, Peyton stopped at a particular one. It was filed under a recent date and by the looks of things was filled with a lot of errors.

Pulling out her trusty calculator, she began checking all the numbers she sees before her.

'This is impossible.' She thought, 'there has to be a mistake in these numbers!'

She checked the numbers again and again, only to get the exact same result. Over and over again.

If her math was correct (and it was), this mistake could cost the company billions and billions of dollars! She had to report this to one of the supervisors right away.

Getting up from her seat, again ignoring the heated looks that followed after her, she went up to the offices, that her supervisors told her class they would be in and looked for either one of them.

Just when she thought that all hope was lost, one of the supervisors came back from their break.

"Mr. Martin, I need to report this to you." Peyton said as soon as she was in hearing distance with the older man.

Said man looked up from his phone and stared at the young blonde woman before him in confusion.

"What seems to be the problem, Miss Potts? Oh, please don't tell me that the boys overdone it again. The last thing we need right now, is another sexual harrasment lawsuit." The man all but groaned in annoyance.

"No, sir, it isn't that. For now, at least." She said reassuringly to the man, "I found a very big mistake in this file a few minutes ago. This file needs to be looked over once again. This slip could cost the company quite a large sum of money." Peyton finished as she gave the man the file to look it over.

"Are you sure about this, Miss Potts? Because, if what you are saying is true, this slip could present a very big problem for the company and all its' employees. Have you checked this more than once? For all you know, you might've forgotten to add a few numbers. Why, Mr. Stark, himself, checked this file not too long ago. And you do know, that he's never wrong, right?" The man looked a little sceptical and a little worried.

Peyton, on the other hand, wanted to do the unlady-like thing, like huffing or snorting. Just because _Mr. Stark_ did something, doesn't necessarily mean that he was always right.

He may be a genius, but that doesn't mean he isn't human like everyone else! It most definitely doesn't mean that he knew everything!

"He can be God for all I care, Mr. Martin, he made a very big mistake. A mistake that needs to be corrected right away. I wouldn't have came up here to see you, if I hadn't checked these numbers a few times with and without my calculator, sir." Peyton said.

"I see." He sighed, "Well, I would love to help you, but I'm not the one who can take care of this problem. The higher ups are still on their lunch breaks. The only one with whom you can talk to about this, is Mr. Stark himself. He's still in his office, but I doubt that he will talk to you or even glance your way without an appointment."

"Don't worry about that, sir. I'll make sure that Mr. Stark hears me out. With or without an appointment. Whether he liked it or not." Peyton said, as she went over to the elevator. Her blue eyes fierce and filled with determination.

As the doors of the elevator closed behind the young blonde, the man was left standing there gawking.

For the life of him, he had never met anyone who was so willing to give Anthony Stark a piece of their mind. There had been a few board members who were displeased with him when he does something stupid or irrational, yes, but they still kept their mouth shut. No one wanted to lose their job!

He shook his head in disbelief and wondered if the young blonde would be even working in the company after her encounter with Mr. Stark. It would be such a shame if she didn't. The girl was very smart and sharp. Not to mention very beautiful.

* * *

As the elevator stopped at the last floor, Peyton thought about what she was going to say.

She needed to play smart. She couldn't risk losing all her points, after all.

She had been working flawlessly over the past two years and held the best ranking among her classmates. And she didn't want to lose her position because of some spoiled little rich boy!

During her time working here, Peyton had seen the big boss only five times. And all of them were from a far.

The first two times she had seen him was during board meetings and she was doing a coffee run with her classmate. And the last three times was when he was flirting shamelessly with a few women who worked there.

She had to shake her head at that. Honestly, if her pencil sharpener had a skirt, she would have to hide it from men like that.

She couldn't believe how some women fall for his ridiculous pick up lines! If he even dared to start her up with one of those overly used lines, she would give him a lawsuit to remember.

She checked herself in the mirror and fixed her bluebell cardigan. Holding the files to her person, Peyton walked out of the elevator and tried to find Mr. Stark's office on the vast floor.

It took her a few turns, until she finally spotted it.

Only a few short steps away from her was the main office, but unfortunately there was a bodyguard standing in front of it.

He was tall and very muscular. He didn't seem like the type who would actually harm a person, but still she couldn't be too sure.

She would try to be reasonable with him, maybe he will let her talk to Mr. Stark after she explains the situation to him.

After all, his job depended on her talk with Mr. Stark as well. Surely, he would understand.

"Hold on there, pretty eyes. I can't let you pass through. The boss said he was busy and that he doesn't want to be disturbed. By anyone at all." The man said as soon as he noticed her presence.

"I understand. But, sir, this is very urgent and Mr. Stark needs to see this immediately." Peyton insisted.

"Then make an appointment and then you can come up here to talk to him." The guard said as he waved her away.

"Please, sir, you don't understand. This is an emergancy. I need to speak to Mr. Stark right away. The company's survival is at stake!" Peyton tried again, stressing how important seeing him is.

"Then why didn't your superiors come up here themselves?" The man asked folding his arms across his chest.

"They couldn't come up, because they are still on their lunch breaks. Now please, let me pass. I just need to show Mr. Stark this file and I will be on my way." Peyton tried to reason with the stubborn man.

"I'm sorry. But I have to follow Mr. Stark's orders. So, I think you need to leave now, miss. Come back when you schedule an appointment." He said as he placed his hand on her small shoulder.

"No! I have to talk to him. Please, this is important!" Peyton all but hissed at him through her clenched teeth.

The guard shook his head. He wouldn't listen to her anymore or even bother to think about all the consequences. He took her hand a little too roughly and something in her just snapped.

She took the pepper spray that she had on her person, sprayed him in the face, grabbed the arm that was holding her hand and flipped him over, making him crash against the wall.

Hard.

The bodyguard was left moaning as he tried to rub the painful substance out of his eyes.

"If you had let me talk to Mr. Stark, you wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. Just because I'm a woman, doesn't mean that I'm unable to defend myself." Peyton said as she stood over the large man in a way that reminded of a mother scolding her child.

"What's going on here?" A new voice interjected.

Peyton turned around and faced the man in charge himself. Mr. Anthony Stark in the flesh.

He was standing by the door of his office, his brown eyes taking in the scene before him. His eyes went from the man on the floor to the young woman standing before him.

Peyton immediately took notice of the way his eyes went up and down her form.

Clenching her teeth, Peyton held herself back from spraying pepper spray into his eyes as well. Even though he deserved it for oggling her, it wouldn't help her cause at all.

"You okay there, Hap?" He asked the man that was still groaning on the marble floor.

"Yeah. She just got me by surprise, that's all." The man answered weakly.

"It seems to me that she took you more than just by surprise. She totally just kicked your ass!" Tony began to laugh at his old friend, while the man groaned with annoyance. Or pain. Or maybe a mix of both.

"This will follow you as long as you live, just so you know." Tony cackled gleefully, his eyes shone with mischief. Then he turned his attention to the young attractive blonde, "And whom might you be?"

"My name is Peyton Potts, sir. I'm one of the advanced students you called to come work in your company over the summer vacation." Peyton held out her hand for him to shake.

"Ah, yes. Now, I remember. So, tell me what is the reason for your surprise visit? I mean, it must be something extremely important, if you beat up my bodyguard and interrupted my nap for it?" He said, not even looking at the extended hand.

"I'm here to show you this file, sir. I've been working in the accounting department earlier today, and I found a very big mistake in these numbers. One that could cost the company billions of dollars. I've informed one of my supervisors about this, but he told me that I needed to come and see you about this in person. I would have taken this to the other higher ups so that I wouldn't bother you with this, but they are still out on their lunch breaks." Peyton replied calmly feeling a bit peeved for being brushed off, as she gave the man the file in her hand.

Tony took the file from her hand and looked it over. His brown eyes moved left and right as he read the papers.

"I personally checked these numbers a while ago." Tony stated, not even looking at the woman.

"I've been informed as such, Mr. Stark. But you've made several grave errors and mistakes. The project you were planning on investing is just a waste of time and money. There are a lot of dangerous risks, that I believe the company shouldn't take at all."

Tony hummed at that as he did the math in his head once more and looking over the file as he did so.

Coming to the conclusion that he, Anthony Edward Stark, had been wrong, he looked up at the young woman who had the balls to come up here, beat up his bodyguard just to see him and tell him so.

"Thank you for your imput, Miss Potts. I'll be sure to take care of this as soon as possible. But, would you, by any chance, be interested in working for me as my personal assistent? I'm currently in the need of one and you seem to be more than perfect for the job." He said as he leaned against the door frame.

Peyton wasn't expecting this. She knew that the man was unpredictable, but for him to do this? She definitely had not seen this coming.

If she were to be honest with herself, she would have loved to take the offer. It was a huge promotion and the pay was even better. But, she wanted to be fair and do things the right way.

"As much as I would love to accept your offer, Mr. Stark. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to refuse. I don't want to get a promotion this quickly and of short notice, just because I did something any kind person would have done. I wish to apply for the offered position and earn it. It would be fair to all the other employees, after all. Not only that, but I also have to prepare for college and I have a few personal things to take care of. Thank you for your kind offer, sir, but I decline. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Please, see to it that you take care of this mistake as soon as you can. I wish you a good day, gentlemen." She said and swiftly turned on heel and walked over to the elevator. Leaving the two men flabbergasted as they stared at the elevator door.

"What the hell just happened?" Tony asked. He was still trying to process the fact that he had just been turned down. By a woman, no less!

"It seems to me that she just turned down your job offer. Do you think she heard the stories about how _personal_ all your previous personal assistents were?" The other man asked as he finally stood up from the floor.

"Nah, she doesn't seem like the type of women who love to gossip. But then again, you don't seem like the type of man who could get his ass kicked by a girl twice his size. Don't tell me you are getting old, Happy." Tony joked. He was never gonna let that one go.

"Can we please not talk about this? Like ever." Happy grumbled. His back was killing him and his eyes are still watering up.

"Nope. This so gonna haunt you. Can you imagine it: A former wresler gets his ass beat by a girl, or the badass bodyguard was brought down to his knees with a can of pepper spray." Tony laughed at the displeasure of his friend as the said friend went inside his office.

Happy glared at him as he took an ice pack from the mini fridge, which in turn made Tony laugh even harder.

"And what's worse, she walked away from this, practically skipping in her high heels like a little girl, who did a good job." He cackled, "Oh man, Rhodey's gonna wet his pants when he hears about this. If she had given you a black eye, I think that I might've wet myself too. This just made my day. And to think, I almost ignored the commotion!"

"Seriously Tony, this is getting really old and fast." Happy hissed as he placed the ice pack on his sore back.

"Oh, you wish!" Tony scoffed, "Jarvis, do me a favour and remember Miss Potts for me. I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other more often and soon." Tony ordered.

"Already on it, sir. Will that be all, sir?" An computerized voice asked in a perfect british accent.

"Could you get Rhodey on the phone for me, Jarv? I have a really good story to tell him." Tony laughed as dodged the ice pack Happy threw at him.

* * *

A/N: And that will be all for the first chapter. I hope you liked my take on the whole thing. I would really like to get some feedback from you guys. I'm a little rusty, but I hope that you will give my story a chance, I promise that it will be worth to read.

What I also forgot to mention in the beginning, is that I will portray true family values in this fic as well.

And before you ask, no there will be no Pepperony. As I mentioned above, this fic will be a Steve Rogers and Pepper Potts fanfic. I'm sorry once again, Pepperony fans!

Second, Pepper's mom is from Turkey. She changed her name and religion when she met Pepper's dad.

Here's a translation of their conversation (If someone understands turkish and is fluent in it, I apologize if it's bad. I wrote that in Goggle translate):

* **Büyükanne** \- Grandmother

* **Bana bak, mavi göz. Senden çok önemli bir şeyi hatırlamanı istiyorum. Bir kadının gurur ve haysiyeti ince bir cama benzemektedir, çakıl bile içine bir girinti bırakacak kadar güçlüdür. Ya da kırarsın** \- Look at me, blue eyed. Remember these words very well. A woman's pride and dignity is like a thin glass, even a small pebble is strong enough to leave a dent in it. Or even break it.

* **Tavsiyemi alacağına bana söz ver. Ben sadece senin için en iyisini istiyorum, kızım** \- Promise me that you will listen to my advice and heed my words. I only want what's best for you, honey.

* **Anne, ben senin tavsiye dinlemek söz veriyorum. İşten işim bittiğinde seni arayacağım. Şimdi gitmem gerek. Seni çok seviyorum.** \- I promise that I will listen to your advice and heed your words, mother. Now, I will call you as soon as I'm done with work. I really have to go now. I love you.

* **Kendine İyi bakım ve iyi olur, yavrum.** \- Please, take care of yourself and be good, my sweet.

* **Mavi göz** \- Blue eye or in this case blue eyed. It's Pepper's nickname that her mother and her mother's side of the family had given her since birth.

And that will be all for now. Again, I'm really sorry about any mistakes you might find here. I promise that I will take care of it or them as soon as I can.

I love you and I'll see you soon. On the same story and on the same site!


	2. Chapter 2

**A** **N** : **WARNING: SLIGHT LANGUAGE, MENTIONS OF SEX, SEXUAL ACTIVITIES OR SITUATIONS, ATTEMPT OF RAPE AND A** **VERY** **LONG CHAPTER AHEAD!**

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! JUST THE OCS AND PART OF THE STORY PLOT!

 _ **ENJOY AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**_

* * *

Peyton sighed tiredly as she sat down in one of the many chairs in the waiting room. She had a job interview at Stark Enterprises scheduled at 10 o'clock.

And at the moment it was 9:45 am. She came in _15 minutes_ **_earlier_** than expected. Sometimes, she honestly wished that her parents hadn't gone out of their way to install punctuality into her system.

Because she could have, at the very least, taken a 15 minute nap in the car!

But then again, her governess would go on and on about how hard life was and how she needed to 'man up and take charge', so napping wouldn't be much of an option.

Peyton couldn't even imagine the earful she would get from the older woman, if she dared to fall asleep in the middle of her speech.

Her governess had been giving her that exact same speech ever since she turned 18 and got a call from the office to schedule a job interview with her.

Now that she graduated at the top of her class at both her high school and advanced school, and was legal of age, she could officially get a job at a multibillionaire company (like this one) and achieve her goals.

Crossing her legs in a lady-like fashion, she took out a small compact mirror she always carried with her and checked herself in it.

Luckily for her, she picked up quite a lot of good genes from her mother's side of the family, so she didn't look tired at all.

But if one looked deeply into her eyes, they would be able to see the sheer exhaustion that she was hiding from everyone.

If she were to be honest with herself, she wasn't even in the mood to do an interview of any kind right now.

All she really wanted to do was go home and get some sleep. But her governess would rather let her walk around the city naked, than let her sleep and/or do nothing when she _still_ had work to do for the day.

(It was such a good thing that she was a very dedicated workaholic and was used to working long and hard, otherwise she probably would have done something most girls her age would. Like, for example, drop everything and everyone, throw all of her worries out the window and make a run for the first mall or park she sees.)

She wanted to laughed at the mere thought. But the thought of looking like a lunatic who was laughing for no apparent reason in an empty waiting room, no less, made her reconsider that option.

Looking around the room to check if anyone was in the area, Peyton pulled out her cell phone and checked the time.

The clock read that it was exactly 9:50 am. Only 5 minutes had passed since she came in.

Funny how it felt like she had been there much longer than 5 minutes?

Peyton sighed once more. She had an odd feeling that sighing would be something she will be doing quite a lot in the near and far future.

Unlocking her phone, Peyton opened up the gallery application and scrolled down her photos, both old and new.

After a few seconds of looking through her photos, she stopped at one particular photo that made her smile fondly.

It was one of the recent photos she had taken on her cell phone. She had taken it last week, when her sisters stopped by to visit her in the new apartment she bought as a birthday present to herself.

Her governess had went out to the supermatket, while she was at the apartment unpacking. Then, someone rang the doorbell, and when she saw who it was...well, she had never squealed so hard in her entire life.

They spent the entire day together. Just the three of them, sitting around in the living room, watching a few old and most recent romance movies (or disgustingly cheesy chick-flicks as her brothers would have called them), eating pizza and all kinds of ice cream, and talked about the most ridiculous things, before they turned in for the night.

To her, it was the perfect end of a perfect day.

It was how she remembers their Friday nights. Just the three of them together in one of their bedrooms.

No school, no work, no parents, no brothers, no worries and no boys. Just them. The three sisters.

Oh, how she wished for more nights like that! She knew that the more responsibility they gain, those Friday nights of pure sisterly bonding would be very few and far in between.

That, of course, didn't mean that they would never see each other. They would, but it just wouldn't be the same as before.

There had been so many times in the past where she wanted to be more like Taylor and Rachel. Her two free spirited sisters.

They would have ran for the hills by now from the sheer amount of work she had on her plate on a daily basis.

And they most definitely wouldn't have tolerated with half of the things she mostly tolerates as well. Especially, from the opposite gender!

They would have created a scene so big, that it would have taken them weeks to clean up.

Well, at least Taylor would have done that. Rachel wasn't always as daring and as vocal as Taylor was about certain things in life.

But, if Rachel got really angry or really upset, she wasn't afraid to get violent and dangerous.

Which is why those two are known to butt heads from time to time, and why Peyton **_always_** had to be the peacemaker between them.

Why?

Because, Taylor and Rachel were a little too simular for their own good sometimes and would go toe to toe about one thing or another.

Especially, if those things happens to be a boy they _both_ liked and wanted.

Peyton shivered internally at the memory of the last time.

She never ever wanted to go through one of their little, healthy 'competitions' ever again!

Unfortunately, it didn't matter if she didn't want that to happen. If some guy has the qualities her sisters both loved in a man, it would be Rachel's sweet 16 all over again.

That's just they way they were and Peyton justvhad to accept that.

Just like how she had to accept a lot of other things.

For example, if they wanted to take some time off, they will. No matter what anyone says or does.

Especially Taylor. She was the one who would throw caution to the wind and go have 'fun'. While Rachel was a lot more responsible than that.

She would at least do everything that was really important and then get wild.

While she, on the other hand, was a whole lot different from both of them.

It was kinda funny, though. _She_ was the youngest in the household, shouldn't _she_ be the loose canon and the rebel one?

Instead, out of the five of them, she was the most responsible and serious one.

Peyton couldn't even begin to count all the times she had to go and get either one of her siblings (mostly Taylor and Joey) out of trouble.

Or the times they would just bail from work and she had to come and cover them (sometimes) when they call in sick.

There was even a time when she had asked them just where had they seen the fun in what they do, when they skip from time to time (they weren't **that** irresponsible, after all).

And the response she got in return was: 'There is nothing more fun than when you can feel all the stress leave your body and heavy weight being lifted off your shoulders.'

(She hadn't understood it then and she most definitely, doesn't understand it now.)

They even begged _her_ to give it a try herself for once.

But, Peyton knew that deep down, she would never be able to do such a thing. Even if she could and wanted to do so.

She was just far too responsible for her own good and hated letting people down. Especially, if they counted on her for something.

For as long as she could remember, she had always been like that.

If there was something that needed to get done, she gets it done. Period.

After all, there was a wise old saying that said: 'If you can do something today and get it done, don't leave it for tomorrow.'

And she practically lived by that very same saying.

Even if she had a billion things to get done by the end of the day, she will get it done. Even if it was impossible, she will get things done on time and do so flawlessly.

No postponing or procastrating whatsoever. At all.

Now that she actually thought about it, maybe her sisters **were** right. She really was a bit of a thight ass.

But, she couldn't help it, even if she wanted to. It was practically second nature to her.

She had always been more focused on all of her studies, work and the other social responsibilities and tasks she had during the day or the week.

Which, in turn, had taken up quite a lot of her free time.

Well, that wasn't the actual truth. She did have free time, but she used that free time on herself, her family and her friends.

Which meant no boys, no dating and no relationships.

Now, it wasn't like she didn't have boys chasing after her or that she hadn't been asked out before at all. She had. Too many times to even count actually.

It's just that, she wanted more than what they were willing to offer her.

Most men only wanted to get into her pants and get bragging rights about the passionate sex they had had with the Barbie doll supermodel/head cheerleader/top student and the 'it' girl of their school and town.

As for the others...well, to put it simply: They had been either 'bro' or 'friend' zoned by her from the very beginning ( **A/N** : And we all know that there was no getting out of there).

She didn't, and still doesn't, want to be someone's trophy, arm candy or sex toy. And she most definitely, doesn't want to be anyone's one night stand or a booty call.

Call her old-fashioned, but she had sone self-respect, pride and dignity. She knew exactly what she was worth and she wasn't about to let _anyone_ change that.

Which was one of the many reasons everyone else sees her as either a tease or a prude.

She had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at that.

Just because she looked like a some sexy Barbie doll and was nicknamed after one, doesn't mean that she _**actually**_ _ **was**_ one or was **that** easy to get.

(If anything, men (and even some women) had more luck getting _the_ _ **actual**_ _doll_ to agree to go out with them, than convincing her of it.)

And contrary to popular belief, she wasn't that big of a prude.

Just because she doesn't want to sleep around or be used like a tissue by whomever she came across, doesn't mean that she was against having sex with someone someday.

This may sound a bit childish and/or naive, but she wants to give herself to someone who would treat her right. Someone who would love and respect her.

(So that when she finally did the deed, she wouldn't regret it when she looked back on that precious moment sometime in the far or near future.)

She didn't and doesn't understand why everyone wants her to sleep with some random person she wouldn't even remember the next day?

She wanted to wait for the right guy. Why was that such a problem for everyone to accept?

It most definitely was nothing she, or anyone else for that matter, should feel ashamed of! She had full right to choose with whom she would be with in _all_ the meaning of the word!

Plus, it was none of anyone's business whether she had sex with someone or not. Besides, what was the point of having meaningless sex with someone anyway?

Taylor told her once, that she could imagine the person she would want to be with _and_ get a good orgazam out of it too. To her oldest sister, it was a win-win situation.

But, wasn't that just a little pathetic? Using someone for physical gradification? Wouldn't it be much simple to be with the person she wanted to be with, instead of imagining them?

Besides, what are the odds that the person she had sex with, would be good enough to give her a 'mind-blowing orgazam' as they say? When there's at least a 50/50 chance of that ever happening.

Either way, she will focus on what's really important to her and keep her legs crossed.

There was someone out there for her and when the time is right, she will find them. She just knew it. She was a firm believer of true love, after all.

How could she not after witnessing all the wonderful loving couples all around her? Her own parents being one of them.

 _ **Especially**_ , her parents, whom have the most unique and beautiful love story of all the other love stories Peyton had ever heard of!

It is because of them, that she believes in love, peace and happiness.

(It wasn't that much out of reach as some people would like to make it seem. The problem was that many are either too afraid or are unwilling to actually try and give it a fair chance.)

Funny how she believes in peace, but wants to work in a company that primarily deals with creating and selling weapons to the military?

Well, the reason she wants to work here is because there is a lot of potential for this company to change the direction from the one it is currently working in.

(Why? She doesn't know for sure. She just has this funny feeling about it, that's all.)

And while she does agree that the army and the police need to be prepared for the worst at all times, she still feels that there were other and better ways to handle things.

So, she was willing to come here and work in one of the best _and_ the most difficult companies in the world in order to prove that.

It wouldn't be easy, of course, but she was going to work as long and hard as necessary in order to succeed.

It helped that she had the full support of her family and friends, otherwise she would have barely managed to work here.

Her dream was to help all the people in the world who were in desperate need of help. She had a lot of ideas and even a few projects prepared and ready too.

But, before she could present her ideas to the board, she needs to gain some good reputation and a firm position.

Hence the reason for this interview. The higher ups and even a few board members remembered her from when she worked here as a part of the project the company and her school created.

They remembered her as not only the best student and a hardworking young woman, but also as the only person who had the guts (and balls) to tell Tony Stark in his face that _he_ was wrong and needed to do something about it.

Which was, apparently, what many had wanted to do for a very long time. At least, that was what she heard from her friends.

For once, she would thank all her lucky stars for having her mother's sharp eyes, cold unmoving attitude and her father's determination and courage.

But, as excited as she was for the opportunity to further her carrer, she really wasn't in the mood to deal with all of this right now.

She had been woken up by her governess around 4 in the morning for an impromptu photo session.

And she hadn't sat down and rested properly ever since.

(Usually she doesn't mind having to do extra work, but she would have appreciated it if she had been informed of it beforehand. She wasn't the type who liked surprises of any kind. She had her brothers to thank for that!)

Now, in her humble opinion, three hours is too long for a simple photo session! It was only one line! Not an entire year collection, for goodness sake! But does her mother understand that? No, of course not!

Her mother hadn't even bothered to ask her if _she_ had anything to do for the day. Which, if anyone ever wondered or asked, she did!

She not only had to prepare for a ballet recital that was coming up next month, register at Stanford University and move into her new dorm room, but she also had to practice for the upcoming piano concert as well.

Adding this interview to all of the forementioned activities she had to finish by the end of the day, you get a young woman who is probably going to be dead on her feet, but would have to power through it either way because she had too many things to get done.

Would that practically guarantee that she would probably end up with a high blood pressure by the time she turned 30? Oh yes. Yes, it would.

Sighing as she caressed the screen of her cell phone, that displayed three smiling young women, with a lot of love, Peyton took one final look at the photo before putting it back into her black handbag.

Just as she did so, the sound of heels clicking against the white marble floor made her stand up from her seat as an older woman walked into the waiting room.

"Miss Potts?" She asked with a kind smile.

"That would be me, ma'am." Peyton replied.

"They were right when they said you were as punctual as a Swiss watch. Never lose that trait, dear. In this line of work, time is money." The woman stated as she looked at the young blonde before her in an very pleased way and continued on, "My name is Caroline and I will be the one who will interview you. Now, come with me, please."

Peyton followed her without complaint as they walked down the hall to her office. Entering in, Caroline moved to sit in the chair behind the large mahogany desk and motioned for the young girl to take a seat in one of the armchairs in front of her desk.

As Peyton sat down, Caroline pressed a button on her office phone and told her secretary to bring her some coffee.

"Would you like a cup of coffee or maybe some tea, dear?" She asked.

"No, thank you. I appreciate the offer, though." Peyton said with a small smile.

"Okay, then let's get down to business, shall we?" Caroline said as she pulled out a few files from her desk drawer and looked through them.

Caroline hummed as she read all the references and recommendations, "By what I see here, Miss Potts, you can consider yourself practically hired. You graduated at the top of your class, you are very talented and have some very good connections that could help this company greatly. Now, have you sent _all_ the documents we asked for?"

"Yes, I personally gave all my files and personal documents to your secretary, ma'am. I even brought the originals with me, if you would like to see them?" Peyton said, placing her hand on her handbag.

"No, no. There is no need, Miss Potts. I believed every word I've just read. It's just a standard question I ask all the future employees, just in case. Your supervisors and colleagues practically sang praises about you, when I asked them of their opinion of your work ethics. That's something you don't hear everyday in this business, dear." Caroline smiled as her secretary came in and placed the coffee cup on her desk.

"Not only that, but even Mr. Stark, himself, was impressed by you as well. He rarely is wrong about anything. So, being the first person to prove him wrong is a feat in itself, if you ask me." Caroline added in afterthought as she took a sip of her coffee.

Peyton held back the urge to let out an unlady-like snort the the mention of _Mr. Stark_.

She still hadn't forgotten about their first meeting and the way he openly checked her out. Without even a bit of shame too!

"Now, just by looking at these papers and with all your qualifications, Miss Potts, the only position we have open and one that we could offer to a hard-working women like you, is the position of being Mr. Stark's personal assistent." Caroline said, placing her cup down onto the desk.

Peyton, on the other hand, felt as if someone just poured cold water all over her.

"Excuse me?" She said weakly, hoping that she had heard wrong.

"Now, I understand that this is unexpected and out of the blue. But, with your vast knowledge, your skills and sharp eyes, you would be the perfect person for the job. Not only that, but it wouldn't be fair to put you in a position below your station when some people pray to get positions lower than the one we are offering you. Besides, the pay is better and it has many opportunities as well." Caroline said smoothly.

"Not to mention, that we wouldn't allow you to refuse the position even if you wanted to. Since you are still not an official staff member, you aren't allowed to choose." Caroline's secretary interjected just as smoothly as her boss did.

Peyton eyed them a bit at that. That sounded a little way too practiced for her liking. But, unfortunately, they were right.

She wasn't even in the position to argue or choose. It wouldn't look good for her, if she acted like a spoiled little princess.

The only thing she could do in case she doesn't like the position she was being offered, is to just leave and seek employment elsewhere. Which would be both stupid and take a lot of time.

"I see. Well, if that's the case, may I please see the contract?" She said as she smoothed over her navy pencil skirt.

"But, of course. Clara, the contract, please." Caroline snapped her fingers at her secretary.

"Right away, ma'am." Clara nodded, opened up a folder and handed a few papers to Caroline.

"Here you go, Miss Potts. Read it well and don't be shy to tell me if something needs to be changed or added in. If not, then we can make it offical right away." Caroline said as she gave Peyton the papers and took out two pens from one of the desk drawers.

Peyton said nothing as she read the fine print. The first thing you do when you are about to sign a contract, is _read_ **the fine print**.

(One of the many things her father had taught her from a very early age.)

So far, everything looked alright. Regulated work hours, steady pay, big bonuses, health insurance, a trust fond, a hefty pension...

She went on reading the contract, until she found something that shouldn't even be on a contract. Or any other **work-related** document for that matter!

"A fully equipped condo? A brand new car? Expensive jewellry? Designer clothing?" Peyton inquried with a golden blonde eyebrow raised.

"Mr. Stark felt the need to insure that you have all the best comforts money could buy. I hope that it won't be a problem for you, Miss Potts?" Caroline asked.

Peyton saw it right there. Caroline thought that she had masked it well, but Peyton saw that there was a hint of fear and worry in her eyes.

Obviously, _Mr. Stark_ felt the need to get a little too involved in her interview.

"At this day and age, it a rarity to find an employer who would go to such lengths to insure all your needs are taken care of." Clara added in to help her boss out.

Peyton only then actually looked at the other woman in the office.

"That may be, but I don't need Mr. Stark to go to such lengths for me. I'm perfectly capable of insuring myself with all the comforts I _might_ need. Therefore, I want to change this entire section of the contract or else I will simply seek employment elsewhere." Peyton stated firmly, her sapphire blue eyes turned ice cold.

The two women looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Miss Potts, please try to understand, Mr. Stark ordered..."

"I don't care what _Mr. Stark_ ordered or said. I'm not going to accept any special gifts from anyone! Now, either you change this or I'll take it to Mr. Stark myself." Peyton interrupted Caroline firmly as she stood up from her seat, taking her handbag as she did so.

"Miss Potts, please think about this. You would live in a beautiful condo that would have anything and everything you would need. You wouldn't have to waste money buying anything at all." Caroline said.

"It gives you the opportunity to save your money and maybe even invest it later on. If you ask me, it's a pretty sweet deal for nothing at all. Many would have signed the contract right away. The previous PA's signed without complaint." Clara backed her boss up.

"Oh, I can see where that got them and how far their carrers went. My pride and dignity are not for sale, ladies! Don't think that I'm not aware of the fact, that there must have been at least a dozen of other women who had been Mr. Stark's personal assistents in the past, who probably lived in that condo! And we all know how well that went for them." Peyton hissed coldly, "Now, since **you** won't do anything about this contract, I'll just go up and settle this matter with Mr. Stark myself." She said as she turned towards the door.

"Mr. Stark is currently busy, Miss Potts. I don't think it would be wise to interrupt hi..." Caroline tried to reason with her.

"I interrupted him once before and I'll do it once again. Especially now, when my dignity and reputation are at stake! I refuse to let anyone belittle me or give anyone material to fabricate stories about me, like they did with all those other women." With that Peyton walked out of the office, leaving the two women calling after her, trying to change her mind.

Peyton hadn't bothered to listen to anything the two women had to say as she marched over to the elevator.

Furiously pressing the call button, Peyton tried to get a grip on her anger. But that, in itself, is one hell of a task to accomplish.

Especially since the man she would be working for, made her literally see red.

She just couldn't believe the nerve of that man! Of all the underhanded things...no, she was not about to lose control. She will just calmly rip his heart out of his chest.

The elevator doors opened with a 'bing' and she stepped inside. As she rode it to the top floor, Peyton could feel every cell in her body that had previously been dormant, boil in red, hot fury.

If she wasn't shimmering in anger right now, she would have given Tony Stark a medal. Because it really took a lot to get her to her critical point, and not many people could get her to go past that limit (and some had even tried).

Honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she had been this furious? Had she ever even gotten this mad before? She couldn't even remember right now. The only thing she did know, is that Tony Stark was about to get a wake up call he would never forget!

She had had enough with people treating her like some pretty doll! Just because she was an attractive (natural) blonde doesn't automatically mean that she was either stupid or some cheap harlot for everyone to use whenever they felt like it!

If Tony Stark thought that he would get her to sleep with him like he did with his previous assistents, then he had another thing coming!

With that thought in mind, she got out of the elevator at the top floor and made her way towards _Mr. Stark's_ office.

As usual, his large bodyguard was standing outside his office like a loyal guard dog.

Hopefully, after what happened the last time she had been up here, he will stay out of her way. Because right now, she was capable of causing a whole lot more damage than just a sore back and teary eyes.

"Do you have an appoin..." The man stopped talking when he saw just whom was standing before him.

Almost instantly, Happy could feel the fantom pain in his back throbbing as the young blonde looked as if she was about to unleash Hell on Earth. He could actually even see the fire burning in her sapphire blue orbs.

He gulped. He was so not in the mood to deal with a pissed off blonde.

'Oh Tony, what have you done this time!' Happy thought, somehow knowing full well that his friend was the cause of the blonde's more than sour mood.

Peyton didn't know whether or not she should feel very pleased with herself when she noticed the masked fear on the man's face.

"How about we simply get straight to the point and not beat around the bush this time around?" Peyton asked and went on talking without giving the man a chance to speak, "You know that I need to see Mr. Stark and you know that I **will** get inside that office, one way or another. Now, the question is, if you are going to: a) move out of my way and avoid getting caught in the crossfire or b) get in my way and be the one on whom I'll unleash my wrath upon, when the one who is the cause of my wrath is perfectly safe inside his office. The choice is all yours."

Happy weighed the pro's and con's of this entire situation.

He could do his job and be a good friend and try to deal with the young blonde and get his ass kicked by the said blonde (again) or he could let her pass quietly and let Tony handle her.

After a few seconds of deliberating, he just moved aside giving the young woman room to walk past him.

Maybe after Tony gets his own ass handed back to him for a change, he will stop teasing him about blondes, butts and pepper spray. There were only too many butt jokes Happy could take.

"Wise choice." Peyton said as she walked passed him and towards Tony Stark's office.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Rhodey, they're going to be the best jets the army had ever laid their eyes on. If my calculations are correct, and they are, the Air Force will be looking at their brand new fighter jets in about a week or so. I just need to figure out which fuel would work better. But, since I'm awesome and a good friend to you, expect a call from me by tomorrow night. If I'm not busy getting laid with some hot chick, that is. You know how the ladies can barely keep their hands off me. Among other body parts." Tony said with a wolfish grin as he spinned around lazily in his comfy office chair.

 _"You know, Tony, I could totally go without you bragging about yourself for once."_ Rhodey said with a tired sigh. It was far too early in the morning to deal with Tony and his over the top attitude.

"Oh, come on, Rhodey. You know, as well as I do, that you need my awesome stories to fill up your boring non-sexual life. How **is** that going for you, by the way?" He stopped spinning in favor of getting something to drink. Perferably some scotch.

 _"_ _ **BORING**_ _?! I'm_ _ **risking**_ _my life protecting the_ _ **entire**_ _country and you call that boring?! I certainly don't see you busting your white ass out there on the field with me, Stark. And FYI, my life is_ _ **not**_ _non-sexual! I go out from time to time_ _ **and**_ _I_ _ **do**_ _get laid. More often then not."_ Rhodey protested.

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that, buddy. Just know that I love you just the way you are and that you don't need to explain yourself to me. I mean not everyone can be as irresistable as me, after all. Don't worry, there's someone special out there for you too." Tony joked as he poured the rich amber drink into his glass.

 _"You asshole! Just because you get laid three times a day every week, doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the rest of us! So, don't act so smug, Stark. Not all of us have PA's!"_ Rhodey hissed. His tone was filled with annoyance.

"Yeah, I'm that awesome, I know. And I'm not always sleeping with my PA's, Einstein. There had been at least four PA's whom I fired without sleeping with them beforehand." Tony corrected him and took a sip of the cool, refreshing beverage.

 _"Only four? Out of how many exactly? Honestly, Tony, when will you learn? You can't just sleep with your employees and fire them afterwards. I swear, one of these days you'll press the wrong button with one of them and you'll be seriously screwed then. Hell, I'm half expecting to hear how they found your dead and beaten body abandoned on the side of a road on the news."_ Rhodey said jokingly, but there was a bit of worry in his voice as well.

Tony was about to respond to that with a jab of his own, but was rudely interrupted by his office door being opened abruptly, and then slammed shut with a force that made the entire office shake a bit, by a very familiar-looking blonde who looked as if she was about to set him on fire and eat him alive.

"You spoke too soon, buddy." Tony muttered under his breath, "Ah, Rhodey, I'm gonna have to call you back, pal. I have a little hairy situation, that I need to take care of in my office. If I don't make it back in one piece, buddy, you can have half of my stuff. Okay, bye."

 _"WHAT?! Tony, what's going on over there? Tony? TONY? TONY?!"_ Rhodey called out, but Tony put the phone down quickly, missing the phone's home base as he did so.

Which gave Rhodey the perfect opportunity to listen in on their conversation from the other side.

"How may I help you,...Miss Potts, right?" Tony ended weakly, hoping that he guessed the name right. He vaguely remembered her beating up Happy and then something about a file or two, but he couldn't be too sure.

There had been too many parties, drinks and women since then, so his memory wasn't very good at the moment. But he knew for a fact that he indeed had seen and met her before.

(He secretly hoped that she wasn't one of his crazy ex's or one night stands. Because, that would be both messy and bad. Very bad.)

"Please, don't play possum with me, _Mr. Stark_! You know exactly who I am." Peyton said his name with a cold hiss.

"I do? I mean, of course I do. Now, how may I help you?" Tony said leaning back into his chair and taking a sip of his drink, while keeping an eye on the blonde in case she reacted violently.

"You can help me by changing the entire section of this contract! Because, I refuse to accept anything of the mentioned." She said as she placed the said contract onto the desk, while trying to hold herself back from choking him with it.

Tony took the piece of paper in his hands a read the particular section that had her in such a foul mood.

"I don't see a problem with this section, Miss Potts." Tony said, a little more relaxed that he knew who she was.

She was the one who kicked Happy's ass with pepper spray back then. He had to bite his cheeks, so that he doesn't start laughing as the memory of that day came back to him.

"You don't see the problem, Mr. Stark? Well then, let me enlighten you." Peyton said, her eyes filled to the brim wth cold fury.

Tony backed away subtly, he didn't like the look on her face at all.

"The problem is that there is a section in this contract that practically implies a relationship that goes beyond a professional one. I wished to change that section, but the woman who was in charge of interviewing me showed no intention of doing so. In fact, she tried to pursuade me into signing it, even though I clearly stated otherwise. She couldn't do anything about it, because apparently, those were **your orders** , Mr. Stark. Do you understand the problem now?" Peyton said in a cold tone of voice as she glared lasers at the young billionaire.

Tony tried to ignore the arctic glare as he racked his brain in order to find a way to defuse the young woman's rage.

This was a very delicate situation and if he wasn't careful...well, let's not go there.

But still, he needed to show this woman that _he_ was the boss here and not the other way around. Contrary to popular belief, he had an image that he needed to uphold.

(That, and he didn't want her to think that he was afraid of her. His ego and pride wouldn't stand for it!)

"I hadn't ordered anyone to do anything, Miss Potts. That contract is the standard contract my previous PA's had signed. Might I add, Miss Potts, that working for me isn't a walk in the park. I'm a _very_ demanding person. And the condo, you're making a big fuss over, has a very large jacuzzi tub that helps in relieving sore backs and all kinds of aches. Plus, it's big enough to fit, at least, two or three, people in it. Not to mention, it's closer to both the company and my house in case I need something from you." Tony said in his businessman tone. It was the one he picked up from his father and Obadiah Stane.

Whenever he used that tone, all of his opponents covered in fear. Because they knew that he was being serious and he means business.

Peyton's glare only intensified as she picked up on all of his hidden meanings and dirty, but she held herself in check.

He had a bodyguard outside the office. It wouldn't look good, if she got on the front page of every tabloid in the country for single-handedly beating the living shit out of Tony Stark _and_ his bodyguard.

"Not only that, but I'm offering to buy you the best clothes and foot wear money could buy." Tony said in an afterthought, putting emphasis on 'offering' and 'buy' seeing that she wasn't throwing a fit or reacting negatively yet.

As that thought registered in his brain, a Cheshire-like smirk graced his face. Then he said in a husky tone, "And who knows? If you play your cards right, I might be kind enough to buy you some lace to go with the other clothes. Or anything else your heart desires. Like toys, bed covers and such." He even wiggled his eyebrows at her as he gulped down his scotch.

She tried very hard not to hurt him.

Honest to God, she did.

But, how in the world was she supposed to keep calm and not put his head on a pike, after a sentence like that?

Peyton hadn't even thought twice when her left hand shot out, grabbed his ear, pulled him out of his office chair, over his desk and had him on his knees squealing as she pulled on his ear.

Tony yelped and cried out as she glared down at him. Hard and long.

(If looks could kill, Tony would have died a very slow and very painful death.)

" _Now, you listen here, Anthony Edward Stark._ " Peyton hissed (like actually hissed out), "That, was **_the fi_** _ **rst and the last time**_ you treated me as some sort of prostitute you picked off the streets." She pressed his ear harder, wanting to get her point across loud and clear.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, let me make this abundantly clear to you. I am **NOT** here to be your personal sex toy or arm candy or whatever else the previous women had been to you, _and_ I most certainly am **NOT** here to be ridiculed or maltreated by anyone in any way. So, your dirty little jokes, pick up lines and juvenile behavior will **NOT** be tolerated from here on out. I **AM** here to work like a normal person and _earn_ my pay like one." Tony tried to escape from her firm grip, but Peyton held on.

"Meaning, I will not sleep with you, or anyone else for that matter, nor accept any kind of present that you had been _kind enough_ to buy me. I am perfectly capable of attaining **anything** my heart desires on my own, without selling my dignity and body to the likes of you." She hissed, throwing his previous statement back at him.

"I, Mr. Stark, wouldn't be caught dead doing the things all your other personal assistents had done in the past. It would do you good to remember that for future references, so that you wouldn't repeat the same mistake with me twice. You will treat me as a person and respect me as such. Do I make myself clear, Anthony Edward Stark?" She said as she added a little more pressure on the man's ear.

"YES! OH GOD, YES! PERFECTLY CLEAR!" He cried out while groaning in pain. He wanted nothing more than to alleviate the pain his poor ear was in.

Peyton released his ear and elegantly picked up the fallen contract off of the floor (must've fall down when she hauled the spoiled man out of his chair) and handed it over to Tony, who was too busy rubbing his ear in order relieve the ache, to take it.

"Now, erase this section so that we could finally sign the contract and begin." She said calmly, as if she hadn't just had him down on the ground by the ear.

Tony glared at her through teary eyes. He hadn't seen that coming!

Her face was now completely blank. No anger or spite in sight. The mask she had on would make Obadiah, hell, _even_ his late father jealous!

Right now, she looked the part of a perfect lady who was perfectly poised, collected and elegant. And not the fire breathing fury she had been, not even 15 seconds ago. (Damn, talk about mood swings!)

But, despite the pain his ear was in, he kinda had to admit that she had some guts to physically assault him the way she did. Not many people would be able to get away with it.

(Don't get him wrong. That still doesn't excuse her actions. He will give her a piece of his mind about that later on.

At the moment, he was a little too shocked and strangely pleased by her bluntness and badass attitude.)

"You interrupted me in the middle of my phone call, attacked me in my own office, manhandled me, bitched at me and you still expect me to hire you?" Tony asked incredulously. (The shock was still in his system, apparently.)

"Yes. Now, get to it. I believe that there's a lot of work that needs to be done by the end of the day." Peyton stated camly as she waved the contract in front of his face.

"You do know that I could sue you for assault, right?" Tony said as he got up from the polished floor.

"You mean exactly how I could sue you for sexual harassment, among other things?" Peyton shot back, looking him straight in the eyes as he was getting up to his feet.

Tony stared her, "You got guts, that's for sure. There are a lot of women who would kill for the opportunities, like the ones I was _willing_ to give you. I mean, who would turn down: a free place with state of the art living conditions, a brand new car and really expensive clothes and jewellry?" He nodded at the contract in her hands.

"Well, apparently, I would." Peyton said firmly, while handing out the contract for him to take.

"You're really not gonna let this go until I offer you a new contract, now are you?" Tony asked as he rubbed his now red ear. Luckily, the pain was slowly ebbing away.

"I wouldn't have come up here and almost rip your ear off, if I wanted to accept all the terms in the contract. Now, please change this." She insisted with a bit of a bite, "Because, this is the last time I will be asking you nicely, Mr. Stark. I don't like wasting my time with nonsense like this. I have other things to do for today."

"You know, I'm still debating whether or not to just call security, like **_right now_** , to just throw you out and find someone else who will be right for the job." Tony said. He knew that he was pushing it, but he wanted to see how far he will be able to go.

"I mean, you assaulted **and** threatened me after all. I'm kinda worried about my safety around you. How will we be able to work together 24/7, if I'm constantly gonna be fearing for my life?" Tony said as he rubbed his chin pretending that he was actually considering it, while also keeping a safe distance from the blonde.

He didn't want to end up on his knees again after all, once was more than enough for his ego.

"You know perfectly well that you deserved it after what you said to me, Mr. Stark. And by ' _find someone right for the job'_ , you mean find someone who has no self-respect or dignity to speak of, and whose inhibitions are just low enough to sleep with you on the very first day of the job, yes?" Peyton said in a calm tone of voice, as if she was stating a certain fact.

"Ouch. That actually hurt right here, Miss Potts." Tony placed his hands over his heart, before he walked over to the mini bar.

"I have an odd feeling that you don't like me very much. Am I right?" Tony asked as he poured another glass of scotch.

Peyton took a deep breath, so that she didn't actually bash his face in with that very same glass he was currently holding.

"What my personal opinion of you is, Mr. Stark, is of no importance in this business whatsoever." Peyton said as she stared him down.

"You see, that's where you're wrong, Miss Potts." Tony said as he brought the glass up to his lips and took a long sip of his drink, "If we are going to be working together practically 24/7, we need to get along nicely if we want this to work out."

"No, we don't, Mr. Stark." The young blonde shot down immediately and continued on, "In life, there are times when we must work with the people we greatly dislike in order to succeed and survive, whether we liked it or not. Life won't always give us what we want. Sometimes, we just have to make due with what we have and appreciate it while we still have it."

"That's a little harsh, don't ya think?" Tony said with an eyebrow raised. She was a little too young to be thinking like that.

"Harsh or not, that's what life is, Mr. Stark. But, I'm not here to discuss the great theories and mysteries of life with you. There is a time and place for everything, even to just have idle talk. I'm here to work and earn my pay. Now, you and I both know that you will hire me either way." Peyton said as she placed the contract on the desk and pushed it gently towards him.

"But, I'm not going to work for you at the expense of my pride and reputation. As I stated before, I'm not here to be someone's lover or butty call or anything else of that sort. I'm a professional and I demand to be treated as such. The only relationship you can expect from me is strictly of that nature. Nothing more and nothing else. So, I expect that you will treat and see me as any other employee in this building or else I'll look for s job elsewhere." She added, crossing her arms elegantly over her chest.

Tony eyed her silently for a few minutes after that.

He can honestly say that in all his years of 'dealing' with women, he had never met one that would chew him out and actually refuse him straight out _before_ he even said or done anything.

Clearly, this whole 'pride and reputation' thing was important to her (oddly enough). But, let it not be said that he wasn't a gentleman at times.

Plus, he never even planned on actually doing anything with her, he was only joking about the lace thing!

(Although, in time, if she freely offered and was willing, he most definitely wouldn't refuse her. He was a healthy man with a libido, after all!)

Her attempts at getting her rage under control was extremely funny to watch and he enjoyed every minute of it.

Even though she was unable to get it under control and he got his ass kicked in the end.

(He will never tease Happy for getting beat up by a girl, ever again after this; seeing how he got beaten up by the same girl too).

But still, it was kinda fun and refreshing to see a woman so determined to put him in his place. Plus, he had always loved a good challenge. It had been a while since he had a good one too.

(Not that it will ever happen, but hey, it's fun to see people trying to succeed in their attempts. It was like watching a really good sitcom.)

"Really? We can't even be friends? As in 'just friends'?

"Only time will tell, Mr. Stark. Now, will you please take care of this contract or will I have to take my leave?" Peyton said, her patience was beginning to wear thin.

"There's no need to get your feathers ruffled, Miss Potts. I have this contract filed on my computer. I can easily take out this section of it and have it copied in a few seconds. Will that be all you wanted from me, Miss Potts?" Tony said as he started up his computer. He motioned for her to take a seat as well.

"Yes. Thank you for understanding, Mr. Stark." Peyton nodded, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Don't mention it, Miss Potts. After all, it's the least I could do for the woman who cared enough about this company to save it from bankruptcy. I have to reward a good act somehow." Tony said as the copy machine beeped with life, printing a new contract to be signed.

"And just so you know, Miss Potts, I was only joking about the whole lace thing. I'm not that kind of guy. I'm not really the type of men who shop. For anything at all really. I actually have people who do that kind of stuff for me." Tony said proudly as he handed the newly printed contract to the young blonde to look over.

"For your sake, Mr. Stark, you will make sure to never 'joke' with me like that again. Or else I'll be sure to do a whole lot worse than just pulling you by the ear." Peyton said as she read each and every sentence once more, making sure that everything was as it should be.

"Does that mean that I should have my security team with me at all times, just in case?" Tony asked with a cheeky grin on his face, as the blonde woman signed her name on the marked spots in perfect calligraphy.

"You can have an entire army looking after you, Mr. Stark. If you get me to go beyond my limit, nothing and no one will be able to save you from me." Peyton stated calmly, her blue eyes piercing through his coffee brown ones.

"You really have no fear of me whatsoever?" Tony said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

(It was a very stupid question to ask. She more than proved that she will take no shit from him earlier.)

He didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. He was kinda used to other people being on his every back and call. He wasn't sure if he was ready to or even could give that up all of a sudden (no matter how much he loved being challenged by someone on anything).

"I fear no one, but God himself, Mr. Stark. I'm not going to bow down to you, just because you're wealthy and a well-known businessman. I can respect you as my employer and as a person, yes. But, if you're expecting some kind of special treatment from me, then I advise you to forget all about it right away. I say that for your own safety, rather than mine." Peyton said sternly as if she was talking to a child and not to her boss.

She felt that in many ways she was. Lord, himself, knows how much of a child Anthony Edward Stark could be on most days. Especially, if he wasn't getting his way.

(That was what she noticed a few months back, at least.)

"Damn, and here I was hoping for some hanky-panky in the board room after long and boring meetings." Tony teased a bit. He tried to be a little more serious, but he couldn't. It was in his blood!

(Hopefully, he won't get beaten up. Again.)

"Mr. Stark, could you please try and be serious for once? We are talking about the entire future of our professional relationship, which will also have some affect on the company." Peyton pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting off the oncoming migraine.

(Yup. She was definitely talking to a child. She might as well tell Sabine to buy a truckload of aspirin, because she will be needing a lot of it. Soon.)

"There is nothing to talk about, Miss Potts. You have been more than clear about the type of relationship you want with me, and I respect that. Although, I could have gone without the whole ear pulling ordeal." Tony said, his eyes steeling up a bit at the cruel reminder of his bruised pride.

"So, in the future, could you keep the physical assaults to a minimum, please?"

"That won't depend on me, Mr. Stark. If you behave how you shouldn't be, I won't promise that you won't be getting what you deserve. Whether it be verbally or physically." Peyton said as she stood up, "If you are going to behave like a child, Mr. Stark, then I will be treating you as one. Also, I will be taking the contract with me as well."

Tony looked at her as if she just told him that the Moon was made entirely out of cheese.

"Why?" He asked very slowly, drawling out the last letter 'y'.

"Because, I want my family attorney to look it over as well, just in case. You needn't worry, I will return it later on in the afternoon. My attorney will be coming with me as well. After we have all the legal papers straighten out, I will begin with work immediately and have everything prepared for you by tomorrow morning." Peyton explained as if it was that simple and obvious.

"But, you already signed the contract?" Tony stated, his voice filled with confusion and incredulousness.

"I'm aware of that, Mr. Stark. But, I want to be 100% certain that there are no underhanded tricks that had been well-hidden. Also, this contract isn't official until it has been documented in the register at the legal department." Peyton stated calmly as she carefully placed the signed contract in her handbag.

"I will come around before the lunch break begins with my lawyer, If you want you can call yours as well. After everything is settled and out of the way, we will make it official and begin." She stated curtly as she turned towards the door, not even waiting for a responce from the dark haired man.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Stark. I wish you a good day." She said as she waved at him elegantly and walked out of the office.

The door closed with a soft click. A big contrast to the way it had been closed when the blonde woman had entered in the office.

Tony stared off into the distance still baffled by the blonde, the sound of thin high heels clicking against marble floors resonating in his ears.

He finally came back to planet Earth when his cell phone vibrated in the front pocket of his pants. He ignored the phone in favour of running his hands through his coal black hair.

"What the hell was that? Did that just really happen?" He asked no one in particular, his voice muffled by the sleeves of his jacket.

 _"You can bet your ass it did, Stark."_ Rhodey laughed histerically from the other line.

Tony jumped out of his seat at the unexpected sound. He looked down at the receiver and eyed it for a few seconds, before picking it up.

"Rhodey? You're still there?" Tony asked, before his eyes widden as a thought came to him.

"Rhodey, how much of that did you hear?" He was worried that Rhodey heared the entire conversation and would tease him until doomsday.

 _"Oh, I heard everything, Tony. From A to Z._ _Everything_ _."_ Rhodey said slowly, drawling out each syllable for as long as possible.

Tony glared at the thing, he didn't like the way he sounded. He hoped that his best friend could feel the heat of his glare.

 _"Hahahah...remind me again, what was it that you said about women not being able to keep their hands off of you, Stark? Irresistable, you say. Hahahah, I can..hahaha...almost imagine the look on your face! Hahahahaha."_ Rhodey laughed again, even choking from time to time from his laughter.

Smug little bastard. He was enjoying this a little too much for his own good.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Go ahead, enjoy your 5 minutes of glory and fame, buddy. 'Cuz it won't be happening again." Tony rolled his eyes as Rhodey's laughing fit continued.

 _"She shot you down flat, before you even started working together. Talk about a cockblock! Hahahah...wou..would you like an ice pack for that burn..hahahahahh. The great Tony Stark, womanizer extrodinaire, was finally brought down to his knees! By a woman! Hahahaaaaahhahah."_ Rhodey stopped laughing as the realization of something came to him.

It was silent for a few heartbeats, before Rhodey started laughing even harder (if that was even possible).

 _"Oh man, she got you on your knees b-by the ear...hahahahaghahah. She treated you like some kid. She must have imagined you like a GIANT BABY with a bib and everything! Hahahah...Priceless! You must've looked very sexy in onsies! Hahahahahahagagahah."_

"Hey Rhodey, as much as I would love to stay here and chit-chat, I gotta go. Unlike _some_ of us, I have work to do. Bye." Tony promptly hanged up the phone before Rhodey could even say anything.

Tony sighed in frustration. He didn't need a reminder of his direct rejection. Not that he was planning to start anything with the blonde. Still, he was not used to being rejected.

He had a 'little' talk with Obadiah about his habits and he decided to dial it down a bit. For the sake of the company, at the very least.

But, to be shot down from the very start and so coldly, stung. A lot. Especially, by a hot young blonde! Then again, who knows? She might even change her mind about him.

If there was one thing he was really good at, besides building cool stuff, it was charming and seducing gorgeous women.

He was _the_ Tony Stark, after all. What woman could possibly refuse and resist him for that long?

"Jarvis, please tell me that you hadn't caught that on tape?" Tony looked up at where he thought Jarvis was (Technically, he was everywhere in the office, since he is an AI. But for some reason, he always looked up when he talked to Jarvis).

"Certainly, sir. I hadn't caught anything on tape and hadn't stored anything in my memory as I usually do." The AI responded.

"It was a rhetorical question, Jarv. I wasn't actually expecting you to answer it." Tony sighed.

"Noted, sir. Would you like me to call your attorney for your meeting with Miss Potts and her attorney, sir?"

"Sure. While your at it, order me a large burger with fries and some soda." Tony said as he opened up Miss Potts' file.

"Right away, sir. Will that be all?" Jarvis asked.

"Yup. Thanks." Tony answered not even paying attention to his AI as he read through the file.

After about a minute or so, he closed the file and got up. As he walked over to the mini-bar to pour himself some scotch, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." He said, not even pausing his previous action.

"Hey Tony, you okay? I thought I heard someone shouting." Happy said as he walked in.

Tony took a long sip of his drink before responding, "That happened about 10 minutes ago. You're a little late there asking me that, Hap. The better question would be, where were _you_ when I needed you?"

"I was outside...the..entire time?" Happy said unsurely as he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

"Let me guess. You saw her coming at you and you got scared, right?" Tony said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"She was extremely pissed off, Tony. She would have gotten in whether I was there to stop her or not. Plus, now you know how I felt when _**I**_ had to go toe to toe with her." Happy tried to defend himself, while also trying not to sound like a scared little girl.

"May, I sure feel safe knowing that you're always going to be there to protect me from harm. Honestly, in the future Happs, please don't let anyone in my office **_without_** my permission. _Especially_ , if they're pissed off. And try not to get scared. Again." Tony said as if it was that simple.

"Sorry. Are you okay? She didn't hurt you too much, did she?" Happy asked, now genually concerned about his best friend/employer.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine, although my pride might've taken the worst of it. She's gonna drop by later with her lawyer to seal the deal with me." Tony said as he poured another glass for himself and a glass for Happy.

"Vau, a lawyer? That bad, huh?" Happy said as he took the offered glass from Tony.

"Not bad, persay. It's just that she's...unique in a way. She's not like all the other women who came to be my PA's, that's for sure." Tony sat at the edge of his desk and took a sip.

"Hot, gorgeous _**and**_ smart?" Happy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Add feisty, brave and a whole lot of headstrong to the mix, you described her to a perfect T." Tony nodded his head at her file, that was on his desk.

Happy winced at that. His father had always told him to be wary of beautiful women, because they could eat his heart and insides out. But, to be extra careful around beautiful _**and**_ clever women.

Because they were capable of twisting his mind right round and getting him to fall to his knees.

"Ouch. I pitty you, Tony. I honestly do." Happy said and gulped down his drink in one go.

"Don't worry. She's nothing I can't handle. Sure, she's a bit difficult. But, I've dealt with worse. I could use one that's hard to get. It's more fun that way." Tony shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, Tony. She's got a lot of rage in her. I don't think that you should play around with her. She looks like she could be quite a handful." Happy eyed his friend, wondering (not) for the first time if he was alright in the head.

He knew that Tony _**loved**_ a good challenge. But, something told him that messing around with the young blonde would be lethal.

"Chill out, Haps. It's just _a possibility_. I'm not saying that I will go after her nor that I won't try at all. It's more of a maybe. I haven't figured it out yet myself. Which, of course, doesn't mean that I won't flirt with her a little on occasion." Tony grinned wickedly.

Happy just sighed and shook his head at his friend's wild antics and crazy schemes. It was a lost cause, there was nothing he could do anymore.

He got up from his seat and walked out of the office, not saying a word to Tony at all.

* * *

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Stark. And I'm sorry for any inconvenience." A tall man said as he offered his hand for the billionaire to shake.

"Don't worry. I'm glad we took care of everything. Happy will see you out, if that's all." Tony said not even taking the offered hand, as Happy showed his lawyer out and waited at the door to show the other man out.

"Yes, that will be all." The man said as he turned to his boss, "It was good seeing you again, Miss Potts. You know where to find me, if you need anything else to be taken care of."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you once again for coming on such short notice, Henry." Peyton said with a smile as she shook her attorney's hand.

"It was no problem at all, Miss Potts. Have a good day and please send my best regards to your parents." The man said and turned around to walk out of the office.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Peyton said as she addressed her new employer.

"That was the first time I had ever done anything like this. In my entire life." Tony said as he rubbed his temples.

"There is a first time for everything, Mr. Stark. After this, you will be able to handle anything like this coming your way." Peyton said as she walked over towards Tony's desk.

"I'll keep that in mind. Now, how about we get down to business?" Tony said more than asked, as he opened a drawer by his side.

"This is your pager, your new work phone and your ID card. Carry them with you whenever you're on the clock and make sure that you don't lose them, it will be a pain in the ass to get my hands on these again." Tony said as he placed the said three items onto the desk and went on explaining as Peyton examined the objects with a critical eye.

"Now, I rarely will ever page you, but carry it in your purse or something just in case of an emergancy. You can almost always expect a call from me on this phone," he said raising the mentioned object up for emphasis, "you have all the important numbers memorized here, so you don't need to worry about getting ahold of them. You have all my phone numbers, e-mail addresses and password codes filed in as well. Also, I made sure to program all the things you would need business-wise in it, so it's like a mini-laptop in the form of a large smart phone. Which by the way, will come in handy soon. And finally, your ID card." Tony raised the said object up for her to see.

"I had it done for you as soon as you left my office earlier. With this, you will be able to access any sector or office at Stark Enterprises in the whole world, as well as my house and any computer at SE. This card is the only thing that can do that, and nothing else." Tony said as the young woman studied the card for a few long seconds.

"I don't think that I have to stress how important it is, for you **_not_** to _lose_ these **and** to have them with you at **_all_** times while you're working, right?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"There is no need for you to elaborate further, Mr. Stark. I understood you perfectly the first time you said it. I promise you that they will be safe and kept out of sight from everyone else." Peyton stated calmly as she took the three items off the desk and placed them in her handbag securely.

"Great. You begin at 10 o'clock tomorrow. Make sure to bring me some black coffee on your way. Happy has your address, so he will come and pick you up at 8:30. Don't be late, he hates it when he needs to wait longer than necessary." Tony said as he went over to the favorite corner of his office and poured himself some scotch. ( **A/N: He drinks that way too much for his own good. Don't over do it with alcohol. It won't be good for you in the long run. Remember: You can always say no! No one can make you inferior if you don't want to!** )

"Isn't that little late to start with work, Mr. Stark?" Peyton wondered with an eyebrow raised, as the billionaire, after some deliberation, took the bottle of scotch with him and sat at the edge of his large desk.

She knew her parents started the day around 7 o'clock almost everyday. She would have thought that a serious corporation such as Stark Enterprises would start working a lot earlier than that.

"For normal people, yes. For me, not so much. I don't exactly do normal very well, so I do something that's more exciting and something people wouldn't expect. It kinda keeps things upbeat a bit. Gives me that badass edge." He said before taking a long sip of the rich amber beverage.

"Want some, Miss Potts?" Tony offered, raising up the bottle of scotch by his side for emphasis.

"No, thank you, sir. I'm not allowed to drink any type of alcoholic beverage yet." Tony eyed her wierdly for a few seconds, before it clucked in his head.

"Ah, that's right! You're still underaged. Well, let me tell ya, you're missing out on a lot of fun. Nothing beats the good ol' feeling of getting piss ass drunk and not remembering the stuff you did while getting piss ass drunk." Tony shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and drank what remained of his drink.

"I'll take your word for it." Peyton responded as she eyed the liqour with concealed disgust.

"In a few years, you'll get to know the feeling too. Trust me, in this line of work you'll be needing a lot of these," He raised the bottle of scotch, "if you want to get through the day. A lot of stress and workload come with the territory. And since you'll be going to college as well. Well, your life will be getting a whole lot interesting from now on. Before you know it, you'll turn to all of this for some relaxation." He said, motioning towards his mini-bar that was stocked with alcohol.

"Only time will tell, Mr. Stark. I rather not claim something ahead of it." Peyton got from her seat at that.

"Speaking of time, I'm expecting to see you at my house by 10 am sharp, Miss Potts. Get some good night's sleep. You'll be needing it." Tony said as he got off his desk.

"Mr. Stark, do all of your employees come to work at 10 o'clock?" Peyton crossed her arms.

"Nope. That's just one of the perks of being my PA." He said as he pulled out his cell phone.

"And at what time does it state in my contract that I'm supposed to come in?" She asked calmly in the exact same manner teachers question their students (when they want them to come to some kind of conclusion on their own) as Tony typed away on his phone.

"At 6 in the morning. And you wanna know this because?" Tony stopped typing for a few seconds before resuming, not even sparing the blonde a look.

"Because, I will be coming in tomorrow for work at 6 am on the dot. **_And_** , I will come to work on my own. I don't need your driver to drive me to your house, I'll be able to find it without his help. Thank you for your offer." She picked up her handbag.

Tony stopped typing on his cell completely and looked at her this time as shock crossed on his face.

"But, I'm giving you an _opportunity_ to sleep in and come to work well-rested?! Don't _**most**_ people look for an excuse to come in late? Not only that, but _I'll be sleeping_ at that time! Why would you bother coming, if I'll be in bed? Plus, Happy knows where I get my coffee!" Tony cried out desperately hoping to change her mind as the young blonde made her way towards the door.

Peyton turned around to face her boss, her fierce blue eyes shone with determination. The temperature in the room droped as she gave him a stern glare.

Tony didn't know why, but he kinda had the urge to put on a very big coat in order to avoid her eyes.

The last time he felt that way, was when his parents where giving him 'the speech' after one of his wild nights. And that was a few years ago!

"I believe that we established earlier that, **I** certainly am _**not**_ _ **most people**_. And, I am the least bit interested in how your previous assistents worked. How well they worked is shown perfectly by my employment!" Peyton said curtly.

"I already stated this before, I don't want nor need any kind of 'perk' or any type of special treatment from you, or anyone else for that matter! My contract is perfectly clear, Mr. Stark. I'm supposed to come in for work at 6 in the morning, so I will come in at that time. I'm not going to slack off, just because _you_ need the extra few hours of sleep!" Peyton all but hissed at him.

Calming herself down, she continued, "As for your coffee, I will simply ask your driver where to buy it and what type of coffee you perfer. I do hope you get some rest, Mr. Stark. Because, I will be seeing you tomorrow at 6 o'clock sharp. If I have to get up early, so will you. I wish you a good day, sir." With that, she turned around and left the office, leaving a shocked, confused and a very slightly impressed genius/billionaire/playboy.

Tony, once again, was left to stare at his office door like an idiot. For a moment, he wondered was it even worth it hiring the hot blonde in the first place.

Sure, she had a lot of promise and she was interesting too, but still!

Demanding of him to get up before 9 o'clock?! That was a bit too much! Even for her!

First the lawyer, now messing up his sleep pattern! What's next? His firstborn child? His fortune? His soul?

'What the hell was all that about?' Tony groaned as he, once again, had to rub his temples because of his new PA.

He had a funny feeling that, he would be doing a lot of that in the future while working with her.

There was not a chance in hell that he would be awake by 6 am! He never got up at that time! Ever! For the life of him!

Not only that, but he was hosting a mega party tonight. There was no way that he was going to reschedule or cancel it!

She must be joking with him. No sane human being would _willingly_ get up at that God-forsaken hour! No way. Not a chance!

She was so joking about coming in on time. There was no way she woul...oh, who was he kidding? She was **definitely** the type who would do that! He could just tell.

Her getting him on his knees when she _**hadn't even started**_ working for him, and the sheer determination to prove him wrong when they first met a while ago, more than proved how serious she was about work!

He groaned again and poured another glass of scotch. He wasn't nearly as drunk as he should be for dealing with this kind of stuff!

"What the hell have I gotten myself into this time?" Tony groaned in his hands, his voice hoarse after drinking his beverage all in one go.

"I believe that the old saying: 'be careful of what you wish for' applies perfectly in your situation, sir." Jarvis stated calmly, not even knowing that he was adding more salt to his creator's wounded pride.

"Mute, Jarvis." Tony ordered without even skipping a beat. He really didn't need a lecture and an 'I told you so!' from his AI right now.

Especially not, when Jarvis would have a very good point on the subject at hand and completely have the right to gloat about it as long as he liked.

But, it was true indeed that in the privacy of his own thoughts, he had wondered what it would be like to have a female employee that **didn't** want to sleep with him and that **would** actually resist him for once.

After the last PA that he had to fire because of the reason stated above, he had shared his thoughts and mussings with Jarvis on one 'peaceful' spring night. He had had a long day back then.

He had to fire yet another PA. Which would make her the 20th PA he had fired. In that month alone.

Honest to God, he really got tired of having to use the exact same speech over and over again, _and_ having the board members and Obadiah getting on his case as well.

So, he told Jarvis this (word per word): "You know, Jarv, sometimes I wished that I had a normal PA like everybody else. One that could and would keep her panties on around me, _**and**_ one that could **_actually_** get the job done on time for once."

That had been three years ago and now, by fate's twisted sense of humor, he had gotten exactly what he asked for.

He really ought to file a complaint to whatever force was out there. The wish doesn't count, because he had been drunk when he said that (unknowingly making the wish at the same time as well).

Because, how the hell was he supposed to deal with one uptight blonde, that actually used her brain?

"You okay there, Tony?" Happy's worry filled voice broke him out of his inner dilemma.

Looking up, Tony's brown eyes met with Happy's.

"I think that I might've bitten more than I could chew, Happs." Tony sighed tiredly.

"What did you do to her?" Happy asked, eyeing his friend in suspition.

"Why do you assume _**I**_ did something to her?" Tony glared at the broad man.

"Sorry. Let me rephrase that. What happened this time, Tony?" Happy said, still eyeing him suspitiously.

"I didn't do anything. I just mearly said that I expected to see her tomorrow at 10 o'clock sharp, and she simply pulled the contract on me." Tony vented out all his accomulated frustration.

"I'm not following you, Tony. Care to elaborate a bit more on that, please? I don't see what's the problem here." Happy raised an eyebrow. He honestly couldn't see the problem this time around.

All of Tony's previous PA's came to work at 10 am. What was so bad about that?

"The problem is, Happy, that Little Miss Perfect wants to come to work at the time stated in her contract and won't budge at all. That's the problem!" Tony explained as if it was that obvious.

"Okay. And what time is stated in the contract?" Happy sat down in one of the armchairs infront of Tony's desk and leaned back into it.

"6 o'clock in the morning." Tony groaned. The mear thought of willingly getting up that early in the morning almost made him cry.

"To make matters worse, she actually expects **_me_** to be up and awake at that time too. She actually had the guts to up and tell me that, and I quote, ' _if I have to get up early, so will you'_. Can you believe it? Can you believe the nerve she had to tell _me_ that? It's as if she wasn't worried about getting fired at all! It's irritating how confident and sure she is about keeping her job, while manhandling me!" Tony whined, cringing internally how weak and girly he must have sounded.

Happy did the only thing anyone who knew Tony would.

He laughed.

Hard.

He really couldn't help it. Tony looked so shocked and so offended, that it was almost a _sin_ not to laugh at him.

Not only that, but his tone of voice reminded him of those super rich, spoiled blondes and those funny cartoon mobster babies, all mixed into one person.

Suddenly, an image of Tony with a long fake blonde wig on his head, hot pink lipstick smeared on his face with a bib around his neck and a cigar in his mouth, formed in his head in perfect HD and HQ.

...which in turn, only made Happy laugh harder.

The man was laughing so hard, tears started forming behind his eyelids.

"By all means, keep on laughing, Happs. It's not like _**your job**_ depends on it." Tony said sarcastically.

When his muscular bodyguard and best friend hadn't stoped laughing even after his indirect 'threat', Tony glared coldly at him and crossed his arms over his chest.

If he were the type, Tony would have tapped his foot against the floor too. Just to add to the effect of a heavily pissed off boss.

"I'm so...so..orry, To-ony." Happy barely said between his laughs.

"Oh no, there's no need for apologies, Happs. I can wait until you're done. Please, do continue on to laugh at my problems that will soon become yours too." Tony hissed back.

Happy paid him no mind as his laughter intensified. He had to clench his sides from the sheer force.

Tony huffed in annoyance. He really hated being laughed at.

Sending the laughing hyena another glare, Tony poured himself some scotch.

After a few seconds, Happy finally stopped laughing. He wiped the tiny tear streaks from his cheeks and sat up properly.

Tony eyed him silently as if waiting for him to burst into another laughing hysterics. Happy may have tried to hide it, but his brown eyes shone with amusement.

"Are you done now?" Tony asked.

Happy nodded his head and took the glass of scotch off of Tony's desk.

"I'm glad to hear and see that. I was getting a little worried about you there, buddy. After all, how in the world would you work, if your ribs are broken?" Tony said in a faux worried tone as Happy took a sip of the amber beverage.

"Can you seriously blame me, Tony?" Happy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You sounded so offended and so shocked that it was really funny to hear. Especially, when it's coming from you!" He added.

"I fail to see how my on-coming headache and problems are funny to you. And might I remind you, that _**I'm**_ the genius here." Tony said, all the while eyeing the glass Happy's hand.

"What's funny is that you are getting whipped." Happy said with a smug grin on his face, "By a woman, no less. One, which happens to be very hot too." He finished slowly as if it was the only way the young genius would understand.

"Hot or not, _I_ am _not_ getting whipped by _anyone_." Tony replied back, putting great emphasis on 'I' and 'anyone'.

"And to prove it to you, I, Anthony Edward Stark, will party so hard tonight that I won't even remember my own name by tomorrow morning. If my dear PA has a problem with that, then too bad." Tony said as he took the glass from Happy and drank the remaining alcohol beverage in it.

"Damn Tony, you really want to fight fire with fire, huh?"

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes at that.

"Happs, If I wanted to play fire with fire, she would have quit by now. Besides, this is what I do. Miss Potts will just have to get used to it and deal with it, 'cuz I'm not planning on changing anytime soon." Tony stated as he pulled out his phone and quickly dialed one of the most resently used numbers.

Happy eyed the man in amusement, already figuring out just whom his dear boss is calling.

"Hey Franky, my man, how you doin'?" Tony said after a few seconds of waiting for the said man to answer the phone.

Happy went over to the mini-fridge as Tony nodded at whatever the other man was saying on the other line.

"Yeah, okay, listen, I need a few more of your girls for tonight...yeah, I know, but I will pay you double for all your troubles. How does that sound?...Come on, you know me, Franky. When have I ever overdid it?...Ok, valid point. But, if it will ease your worries, how about I promise to have all your girls escorted back to the bar by my boys, will that do? Excellent, you're the best! I'll see you around...oh, and see if you can get me a few supermodels too. Later."

Happy walked back just in time as Tony ended the conversation, looking very pleased with himself.

"You seem to be in a better mood." Happy said, biting into a sandwich he got out of the fridge.

"It's hard not to be, Happs, when the party of the century will be going down at my place tonight." Tony said with a large grin.

"Tony, you do know that these parties last until morning, right?" Happy asked with a mouthful.

"Happs, say it, don't spray it. You're getting bread crumbs all over my new desk." Tony chided lightly as the man swallowed.

"And I know how long my parties last, remember? It's the best part of the whole thing." He added.

"What I meant was, the party will last, at the very least, until _8 in the morning_ _._ Your PA will be at your house by _6 o'clock_." Happy said pointedly, hoping that Tony would get where he was going with this.

"So what?" Tony asked with an eyebrow raised.

Happy stared wide-eyed at the man he calls his boss and best friend.

"So what? What do you mean by 'so what'? You do know that she's just a kid, right? And there are things that she shouldn't even see at your party." Happy waved his arms frantically.

"Okay first, she's not a _kid_ , Happs, she's about nineteen years old. She will see nothing at the party, she hadn't seen before in her life. So, she is not a little virgin you need to protect." Tony stated with his index finger raised up and then raised his middle one, "And second, I will be having parties in the future. So, if she even lasts that long working for me, she will be seeing a lot of _that_ as well. The sooner she gets used to my lifestyle and pace, the better for her." At that, Tony picked up his phone and got up from his seat.

"Yeah, but..." Happy began.

"But _nothing_ , Happs. I'm not planning on changing my way of living, just because someone told me to." Tony stopped Happy swiftly before he could finish, "Now, if that will be all, I have a party to prepare for." Tony stated curtly and walked towards the door.

Happy just sighed, there was no room for arguing with hm now. Once Tony's mind was set on something (or someone), there was no use trying to get him to change it.

So, he simply got up from his seat and followed Tony out the door.

"Jarvis, tell Vicky to cancel all my appointments for today. I'm going home and I won't be taking any calls from _anyone_. If it's extremely important and it can't wait, pass on Miss Potts' phone number. She'll be taking care of everything business-wise from now on." The billionaire said, knowing full well that the AI would do as he ordered.

"Also, I expect to see you at my party on time, Happs. Miss Potts will be arriving to work on her own. Her wish, not mine." Tony added, looking back at his friend as they made their way to the elevator.

"That would explain why she asked me what kind of coffee you usually drink and where to buy it." Happy mussed out loud, remembering the first normal conversation he had with his new blonde colleague, without him getting slammed against a wall (and not in a good way, either.).

"If I were you, I would enjoy it. Because now, you don't have to worry about getting up earlier than usual and driving someone else to work besides me." Tony said in a mock optimistic tone of voice.

Happy snorted, "Yeah, what a relief! I'm so happy right now, I could burst in song and do a whole musical about it, too."

"Was that sarcasm I just heard in your tone there, Happs?" Tony fake challenged with an eyebrow raised.

" _Me_? Use sarcasm around _the_ Tony Stark? Never." Happy said dramatically as Tony pressed the button for the ground floor.

"And now, you're mocking me. I hope you weren't hoping for a raise this month, because I'll be taking that off your final payment." Tony said, his face schooled into the perfect serious businessman mask.

But, if one looked deeply into his eyes, they would see the teasing gleam they had.

"Oh please, you love me too much to actually do that." Happy snorted.

He was one of the few people who knew Tony better than he knew himself. So, Happy was always able to tell when Tony was being serious and when he was in one of his 'moods'.

"That's debatable." Tony said as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

Lights flashed, loud music bounced off the walls and the smell of alcohol, smoke and strong perfume filled the cool night air.

Happy looked around to see if he could find Tony anywhere among the crowd.

He had already checked the bar and, surprisingly, he hadn't seen the young billionaire there.

He went over to the dance floor, where quite a lot of men and women were dancing in a way that some would hardly even consider that 'proper' dancing.

Happy had to resist the urge to pinch his nose in order to keep the disgusting smell of sweat, perfume and weed from reaching his nostrils.

Pushing through the dancing couples, if they even were couples, Happy finally spotted his boss.

As usual, the man was surrounded by young beautiful women.

Happy shook his head at him and briskly walked over to him.

"...and that's how I got banned from Mexico." Tony said loudly, before he and the women around him started laughing.

And as usual, he was talking only about himself.

"Ah, there you are, Happs! What took you so long? I thought I told you to be here on time?" Tony said when he saw his friend.

"And I was. It just took me this long to find you." Happy said pointedly as he watched the genius gulp down an entire bottle of beer in a matter of seconds.

(Now, Happy wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was getting kind of worried about his friend's drinking habits.)

"Well, you found me. Now, go, get something to drink and have some fun. I mean it, Happs. I don't want to see you without a glass in your hand until the party ends." Tony said as he took the glass of scotch offered to him by the waiter.

"Tony, shouldn't I stick around with you instead? Just in case?" Happy said, glancing briefly at the women around his boss/friend to make his point.

"Thanks, but no thanks, pal. You don't need to worry about me, I'll be perfectly fine with the ladies here." Tony said as he pulled two busty brunettes to him as the other girls whined at his action.

"You go and have some fun out there. Maybe even find yourself a girl or two? Your mom's been getting on your back about that for a while now. So, here's your chance to actually do something about it. As a matter of fact, I hereby order you to go and enjoy yourself for the rest of the night." He added, as one of the women nibbled on his earlobe.

Happy was about to protest to that idea, but Tony gave him his 'don't-even-think-about-it' look.

Happy just sighed as his friend dismissed him and turned around to walk over to the bar.

Well, he might as well get himself something to drink, seeing how Tony could handle himself for the night.

'Hopefully.' Happy thought as he ordered a shot of tequila.

"Hey there, handsome, is this seat taken?"

Happy turned to his left and was left spellbound by the beautiful red haired woman.

She was tall, fit and had the most beautiful black eyes he had ever seen in his entire life.

Happy was brought back to Earth when she giggled at him. Quickly shaking himself from his frozen state, he smiled pleasantly at her.

"Of course not, by my guest." He said a little loudly as the volume of the music increased.

She sat down next to him, just as his drink arived.

"Hey, Bob, anything the lady orders is on me." Happy said to the bartender.

"Sure thing, Happs." The man replied, winking at the bodyguard.

Happy gave the young woman a coy smile, all the while thanking every single deity he knew for remembering to brush his teeth before he went out tonight.

'Maybe Tony was right. We really needed this party, after all.' Happy thought as the beauty ordered her drink.

Drinking up his own, Happy turned in his seat when he noticed the music slowly dying down.

Everyone turned their attention towards the grand foyer, as Tony walk up front with a microphone in his hand and a large cocky grin on his face.

"Good evening, everyone! Welcome to my humble home. I hope you're enjoying yourselves tonight?" The loud roar in agreement was his response.

"Glad to hear it. Now, as some of you may know, there are only two places in this mansion you are not allowed to enter. My room and my workshop. Other than that, you've got full permission to use all the other rooms here as you please." Tony paused there, giving them some time to let that information sink into their heads.

"With that being said, have fun and don't stop. Just remember: What happens in la casa de Stark, stays in la casa de Stark. Ok? Now, let's PARTY!" Tony yelled and the crowd went wild as the DJ started the music up again.

For the rest of the night, loud music and cheers could be heard from Tony's mansion as the bright lights flashed and changed colors, adding to the crazy atmosphere inside the luxurious house.

* * *

It was 5:59 in the morning, when Peyton parked her car in front of her boss' extravagant mansion.

Taking out her keys, Peyton got out of the car with a cup of coffee in hand and locking the car as she walked up to the front door of Tony's house.

She had woken up extra early this morning, just so that she could go and get her boss his favorite coffee from his favorite coffee house at the other side of the city.

(Even though she was 99%, no a 100% certain, that her 'dear' boss had a perfectly good coffee maker at his own home. He either wants to pester her or he doesn't even know how to use his own. Or probably both.)

Raising her hand to ring the doorbell, Peyton finally took notice of a few things that seemed a little off.

First, she could hear some strange noises and music coming from the inside of the house.

Second, there was a bright purple bra with black sequins hanging off the doorknob.

And third, the door was unlocked and left slightly ajar.

Quickly putting two and two together, Peyton wanted nothing more than to smack herself on the head and groan at the oncoming headache.

Of all the things to see bright and early in the morning, her boss completely naked and getting it on with some woman was definitely _**NOT**_ on the list!

Silently cursing her stupid luck and rotten timing, Peyton rubbed her forehead gently with her free hand, trying to ease the pressure that was beginning to settle there.

Counting slowly from one to ten, Peyton pulled out her ID card from the inner pocket of her light grey blazer and ran it through the scanner next to the door.

After a few seconds, the lights went from blue to green, signalizing that she had been registered in the system as present ( **A/N** : That she actually showed up for work.).

Internally bracing herself for all kinds of horrors that she was about to witness, Peyton opened the door a bit more (all the while avoiding the piece of lingerie) and was immediately assaulted by several powerful scents.

Three of which she was able to recognize right away. She wasn't _too_ sure about the other scents she detected, but she wasn't too keen on finding out either.

(One of the reasons being, that the three she knew were more than enough to render her unconscious in less than a second.)

Resisting the urge to put her hand or a handkerchief over her nose in order to block out the revolting concotion, Peyton steeled her nerves and cautiously walked inside the mansion as if it was about to explode.

...only to stop in the middle of the hallway.

To say that she was flabbergasted and disgusted, would be the understatment of the millenia.

And why?

Because the entire place was a pigsty! That's why!

Hell, even a pigsty looked like a resort compared to this.

There were random articules of clothing, both male and female, on the white marble floor, a few couch pillows, a lot of bottles of various alcoholic beverages, broken glass, among other things she rather not even mention.

If this was what the entryway looks like, then Peyton wasn't too sure if she wanted to see the rest of the house.

Counting from 10 backwards this time, she went further in to the house, avoiding all kinds of things on the floor as she did so.

(She picked the wrong day to wear black strappy heels, it would seem.)

As the young blonde walked towards the living room, the volume of the music lowered, while the sound of boisterous laughter and howls increased.

Counting to three, Peyton grasped the handle and walked in, wanting to just get it over with once and for all.

What she stumbled upon entering, could be described, for the lack of a better word, as the beginning of an orgy.

For starters, her boss was no where in sight. Whether that was a good or bad thing, she wasn't sure.

There were more men than women, that's for sure. Meaning, it was definitely not the normal kind of parties a sane person would go to.

The semi-attractive strippers were dancing around poles, completely naked and partially drunk, with a large group of men cheering them on.

Some men were dry humping and making out with scantily dressed women against any surface they could get on. While the remaining few, were half naked and in the middle of getting a lap dance or are already having it, in the centre of the room.

Bile began to form in her stomach at the mere sight of the revolting action. Now, Peyton already came to the terms that her boss would engage in a handful of sexual activities and the like, but she never would have thought that he would allow other people to do such things in his living room!

Looking around the room, hoping to see at least someone normal to talk to, Peyton had the unfortunate luck of seeing one of the strippers unbuckling some guy's belt in front of the other drunken males.

For the love of God, do these women even have a bit of self-respect? Or pride for that matter?

Quickly turning her gaze away from the sight, not wanting to see what would transpire between them.

(Even though she already had a pretty solid idea as to what will happen next.)

Glancing at the women that were giving a lap dance in the central part of the living room, Peyton stopped at one particular ravenette and stared at her shell-shocked. If she had less muscle control over her jaw, Peyton was sure that her jaw would have been on the floor by now.

"Zeynep ( **A/N** **:** 'zeinep)!" Peyton called out, her voice piercing through the soft hum of the music playing on the radio, startling the said woman and the other occupants in the large room as well.

The ravenette turned her head around, looking over her left shoulder. Her exotic hazel eyes meeting her heavenly sapphire blue ones head on.

As soon as the beautiful ravenette realised just at whom she was looking at and who called her name out, she jumped off the man's lap as if she had been burned by the blonde's glare, leaving the man's hard on open for the whole world to see.

"Hey babe, why'd you stop? Things were just startin' to heat up." The man groaned as he raised himself on his elbows to see what was going on.

Once he laid his eyes on Peyton, they darkened with lust as he looked her up and down, seemingly undressing her with his eyes alone.

Licking his lips, the man smirked seductively at Peyton and winked at her, trying to get her attention.

Peyton ignored him completely, along with all the other leering men. Her cold glare was solely directed towards the, now red faced, woman who had been on top of him only seconds ago.

Now that she had gotten over her initial shock, hot rage boiled deep within every single cell in Peyton's body.

She couldn't believe that her colleague would even...she couldn't believe she would belittle herself in such a way to even think...Oh, she was _so_ gonna give that girl a piece of her mind!

Zeynep covered her naked chest with someone's disregarded T-shirt, not wanting to feel completely exposed in front of her boss' daughter and the face of the fashion brand she was a model at.

She looked down at the ground, not being able to hold eye contact with the young woman from shame.

Zeynep sent a mental prayer to every deity she knew to simply open up the ground and swallow her whole, just so she could avoid whatever was coming her way.

There was heavy tension in the air for a few minutes as everyone, now slightly a little more sober, looked from one woman to the other.

The silence was finally broken as Peyton walked over to the small coffee table in the center of the room and placed the coffee in her hand on it, after placing a beverage coaster on the said table.

Zeynep nervously eyed the blonde as she walked over towards her in a calm and collected manner.

She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, trembling at the power that radiated off the gorgeous blonde.

You see, even though her walk said 'relaxed and in control', Zeynep knew that hell was about to break loose. The wild hurricane raging in those beautiful blue irises more than promised it.

"Peyton hanim, burada ne yapıyorsun?" Zeynep stuttered as the blonde came to a stop in front of her.

Peyton's eyes flashed, her lips thinned and her whole body tensed. Not too long after the words had left her mouth, Zeynep's head flew to the left as a loud smack rang out in the room, echoing all around.

The stinging sensation on her right cheek finally registered in her numbed brain as Zeynep realised what happened.

 _She had just been slapped._

"CATFIGHT!" Someone yelled out in excitement. The other men soon joined in as well, chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Peyton sent them a warning look that got them to shut up. Satisfied that she got her point across, she turned her attention back to the ravenette.

Zeynep gently cradled her wounded cheek and raised her head to look up at the blonde. Her hazel eyes filled with unshed tears when she saw the sheer disappointment and disgust in the her blue eyes.

"Bana sormak için büyük bir döngü var, Zeynep. Özellikle de bu sahneden sonra gördüm." Peyton said coldly, making the ravenette shiver at the tone she used.

"Hiç beynini kullandın mı? Bu aptalla boğazını kandırman nasıl bir utanç değildi? Bu insanların önünde!" She added, her voice got slightly louder after each word, all the frustration and anger coming out.

Peyton had to clench her fists thightly, so that she doesn't strangle the woman where she stood. She was so angry at her, that it took a lot of effort on her part not to skin her bare.

"Hiçbir zarar vermedik, sadece eğleniyordum." Zeynep squeaked, careful not to anger the blonde more than she already did.

"Having some fun? **_This_** is what **fun** looks like to you, Zeynep?" Peyton hissed at the woman in English.

Zeynep looked at her feet at that. She didn't know what to say to the other supermodel. She wasn't expecting to run into Peyton at all, let alone have the blonde catch her in _that_ position to begin with.

Looking up at the young model, Zeynep gave Peyton her best apologetic look. She hoped that it would soften her up like it usually would. At the very least, a little bit.

Too bad Peyton was having none of that this time around! She was far too enraged to be easily swayed by a beaten down look.

"Perched, half nude, on top of some heavily intoxicated moron in _someone else's living room_ and in front of other morally questionable people, is your idea of fun, Zeynep? You are willing to humiliate yourself by acting like a prostitute, and for what? For a few dollars? Are you that cheap and easy, Zeynep? Are you that desperate for a man's touch, that you would let yourself become one of them?" Peyton continued with her onslaught, not even choosing what to say to the other woman or even caring if she hurt the girl's feelings.

Peyton knows that she will feel bad about it later on, but Zeynep just had to set her blood on fire.

"Did he promise you a better life? Or a safe and secure future, Zeynep? Did he feed you all the sweet lies most women fall for?" She hissed, making some of the strippers feel a little self-conscious.

Zeynep looked away from the blonde. There was no way she could spin that around to make it look good at all.

"Are you insane or just plain stupid? Do you honestly believe that half of the men in this room even have the intention to get married someday? Do you really believe that women like them can actually get married and live a normal, happy life? Do you even have an idea what would have happened, if there had been a paparazzi outside that window right now?" Peyton asked coldly.

"You would have made the front page of every tabloid in the city. If that happened, Zeynep, you would've kissed your dignity goodbye." She said harshly as she glared at the ravenette for her stupidity and thoughtlessness.

"Not only your dignity, but also the dream of the perfect wedding you had as well. Because no man would marry a woman, who takes her clothes off for pathetic imbeciles, who lack the capacity of finding a woman that would stand by them. The same goes for men as well. Sell your dignity and self-respect and expect a life filled with judgement, turmoil and emptiness." Peyton stopped to take a deep breath, before continuing on.

"I would have understood somehow, that you did this because you have absolutely no other way of earning for a living. But, you have a job many could only hope to have. Or at least had, because I'm still contemplating whether or not to tell my mother what I just saw here. If someone from the media saw you here, in this kind of company no less..." Peyton stopped there, knowing Zeynep would get the rest on her own.

If that had actually happened, her mother would have strangled Zeynep on first sight.

Her mother had always prided herself of leading a normal, none dramatic or scandalous life and business.

Peyton doesn't even want to imagine the fit her mother would have thrown, if a paparazzi caught Zeynep in the position she had caught her in a while ago.

She even made a mental note to check all the tabloids and social networks, just to be on the safe side. Shaking her head in disappointment, she said quietly.

"You have absolutely no idea in how much trouble you're in. Pray to God, that there aren't any pictures of you on the Internet."

"Affet benim, Peyton hanim." Zeynep whispered, holding back her tears of shame.

"Neyse ki, benim mürebbiye benimle gelmedi. Aksi takdirde, baban ve annen derhal duyar. Baban o zaman canlı olarak seni yakabilirdi." Peyton said, not even blinking twice at the apology. Sure, she felt bad about it. But, Zeynep royally screwed up and she needed to learn her lesson well, so that she doesn't do something like this in the future.

Zeynep's head snapped back to face Peyton in such a speed that could have broken her neck. Her eyes were wide and full of fear at the mere thought.

"Aileme söylemeyeceksin, değil mi?" She stuttered. Hoping against hope that Peyton wouldn't turn her back on her.

"If there _are_ compromising pictures of you from last night on the Internet or in the newspapers right now, me telling your parents is going to be the least of your problems. Especially, if they already found out about it, Zeynep. God only knows what you've done last night." Peyton stated coldly and sternly with narrowed eyes.

"But, we'll deal with that later on. And we _will_ have a very long discusion about that. Now, did you come here all by yourself or with someone else?" Peyton asked, looking around the room to see if she could find someone else she knew.

"Dün gece Ayşe ( **A/N** : 'aishe) ve Zehra ile geldim. Ancak, şu an nerede olduklarını bilmiyorum." Zeynep answered in a soft voice as if expecting to get hit again.

"Neden sürpriz değilim?" Peyton said resisting the urge to snort at that.

The three of them were practically attached at the hip. Where one went, the other two followed. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Peyton sighed. This was not how she wanted her day to start at all.

The headache she had gotten before entering the house just evolved into a painful migraine. And something told her that it was about to get a whole lot worse very soon.

"Git giyin, sonra Ayşe ve Zehra'yı bulun. Sizi eve götürecek taksi çağırayım. Onları bulamazsanız ya da birileri size sorun yaşarsa, hemen beni arayın. Beni anlıyor musun?" Peyton said without even looking at the woman.

Zeynep nodded her head, walked around the blonde and left the room quietly.

"Oh man, why'd you do that for? We were just getting to the good part." Peyton turned to look at the man who said that and noted that it was the one who had been oggling her since he saw her.

Now having the time to study him a bit more, Peyton noted that he was not that bad. Physically speaking at least.

He had rich brown hair and hypnotizing ice blue eyes. He was of average height and had a slender build. Good looking, but most definitely not her type at all.

Looking at all the other people present in the room, Peyton said curtly.

"The party is over, everyone. Please, pick up all of your belongings and leave quietly. A taxi service will be coming by shortly to take you all home. I'll have your vehicles delivered back to you by late afternoon." She typed the message as she talked, without even looking at her cell phone.

For once in her life, Peyton was thankful for the years of honing and mastering the subtler arts and for her governess' long and painful lectures.

"Oh come on, baby. The party's in full swing. Relax a bit and have something to drink. Why don't you come over here and sit next to me, hm?" The man Zeynep was 'entertaining' said as he grabbed Peyton's small hand quite harshly.

Peyton immediately reacted at the contact. Without a second to spare, she twisted the man's arm behind his back before he had the chance to pull her towards him.

The man cried out in pain as Peyton held him down in a vice grip.

"I believe I've been perfectly clear." Peyton stated calmly, even though her body language told a whole different story.

"I told you that the party was over and that you should get dressed and leave without starting a fuss of any kind. Now, unless you want to end up like your dear friend here, I strongly advise you do as you were told. I don't have the patience nor will to deal with you right now." With that she put some pressure on the arm she held in a firm hold, making the man scream as the familiar sound of a bone cracking was heard not too long after that.

"If you aren't completely dressed in the next 10 minutes, I will make his pain look enviable." Releasing the man from her hold, the womanizer collapsed on the floor in a fetal position. He rocked back and forth, weeping in pain as he clutched his injured arm.

In that very second, the men and women scattered around the room looking for their clothing.

Peyton watched them as they bumped into each other every 5 seconds or so, as they did what she had ordered them to do.

Heavy footsteps were heard coming from the hall. A minute later, a sleepy and very tipsy Happy burst through the door, looking at the other occupants in mild confusion.

"What the hell's goin' on here?" He asked dumbly, not noticing the blonde yet in his hazed up mind.

"Good morning, Mr. Hogan. How good it is to see that you're always prepared for anything. It really brings me such relief, knowing that you are so devoted and focused on your job and that you have your eyes open." Peyton said sarcastically, finally drawing the broad man's attention to her.

The bodyguard looked at her. Then at the weeping man on the floor. Then at the other people, who were hurridly getting dressed up and avoiding the blonde as they did so. And then, up at the blonde once more.

Happy blinked a few times, trying to figure out where he knew the gorgeous woman from.

When his brain finally woke up, Happy froze, immediately sobering up.

"Mi..miss Potts, you're..."

"On time for work? I believe I already informed Mr. Stark, that I would be here at 6 o'clock on the dot." Peyton said as she took in her male colleague's appearance.

His clothes were wrinkled beyond belief, the collor of his white dress shirt had red lipstick on several different places, his dress shirt was untucked, his black dress pants were unzipped and he smelt of alcohol and strong woman's perfume.

Peyton wrinkled her nose that. She didn't even have to guess what Happy had been doing last night.

Happy noticing at what the blonde was looking at, quickly fixed himself up a bit, chuckling nerviously as he did so.

"Sorry about that. I was a little..." Happy began, trying to find a way to explain himself. Even though he didn't have to.

It was just the way she was looking at him, that reminded him of the scolding look his mother used to give him when he was a teenager.

"Distracted? Yes, I can see that. Now, that you're finally awake, please walk everyone out. I sent a text message to the taxi service Mr. Stark usually calls for specific occasions not too long ago. I'll be calling the maid service as soon as everyone leaves." With that Peyton walked out of the room and towards the three women that appeared at the doorway, leaving Happy do take care of the guests.

"Günaydın bayanlar. Dün gece iyi vakit geçirdin mi?" Peyton asked the two sisters in a sugary sweet voice.

The two brunettes looked at their feet, not responding to Peyton's question. Zeynep told them everything on their way down, so they knew that the blonde was very disappointed and angry.

"Sohbet havasında değil misin? Eh, eğer senin yerinde olsaydım, ben de onun için ruh hali olmazdı. Hadi, dışarıda sizi bekleyen bir araba var. Her şeyin yanında mısın? Hiçbir şeyi kaybetmediniz mi, unutmadınız mı?" Peyton asked, glancing at the silent trio.

They nodded their heads at her questions, "Çok iyi, gidelim." With those words, the three women followed Peyton out of the mansion.

When Peyton gave the taxi driver the women's address and detailed instructions on what to do when they got there, Peyton walked back inside the mansion just as Happy sat down on the couch, while rubbing his temples.

Peyton studied the man for a few seconds, before walking over to the coffee table, picked up the coffee cup from it and walked towards Happy.

"I think you need this more than Mr. Stark does." She said, while pushing the coffee cup into Happy's hands.

Happy smiled at his younger colleague and accepted the offered drink.

"Has everyone left?" Peyton asked, glancing around to check if there were people around.

"Nope. Most left during the night, continuing the party elsewhere. I'm kinda surprised that the strippers were still here. Usually, they would leave an hour or two after midnight. Tony has someone over, I think. Everyone else is gone." Happy said and drank up the entire coffee in one go.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that. I told Tony to tone it down a little bit, but he wouldn't listen. Some parties aren't for everyone to see, especially not a girl your age." He added.

"You needn't worry about me, Mr. Hogan. I already knew that Mr. Stark is more of a free spirit. I had a feeling that I would see and hear things, I never wanted to. What I saw this morning, just confirmed it." Peyton said as she sat down on the opposite couch.

(After she made sure it was safe to do so, of course.)

"Good call on the taxi service, by the way. I forgot to call the boys last night to tell them to be here in the morning." Happy sent the blonde a shy smile.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Hogan. I spent the better part of yesterday getting to know every person I have in the contact list. The emergancy calls being the first ones. Now, shall we get to work?"

Happy groaned at the thought of moving. It was far too early in the morning to be even thinking of anything work related.

He sent the blonde a pleading look, but she brushed it off as she stood up from the couch, her work phone in hand.

Happy must admit, it's kinda admirable to see such determination, vigor and professionalism, especially from someone so young.

He was willing to bet that half of her peers wouldn't have even bothered coming in on time to work, when their boss gave them permission to sleep in

'Oh man, sleeping sounds so good right now.' Happy thought with a small longing smile on his face, imagining his soft pillows and warm bed.

"The maid service will send a team over in a few minutes or so. Is Mr. Stark awake?" The blonde's voice broke him out of his trance.

"Whut?" He asked dumbly.

Peyton gave him a slightly exasperated look. If this was what she will get from him in the future, then she will see to it that he never drank anything alcoholic ever again.

"I said that the maid service will send a team over in a few minutes. Now, is Mr. Stark awake yet?" She repeated slowly.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe we should wait for a little bit? He has someone with him." Happy said, glancing at the stairs that led to the master bedroom.

"How about we have some breakfast until Tony gets rid of the girl? I know I could use some food in me right now." Happy suggested. His stomach fully agreeing with him as it rumbled.

"No, thank you. I already ate my breakfast at home. It's almost 7 o'clock and we have a lot of work to do." She said as she walked towards the stairs.

"Which bedroom is Mr. Stark's exactly? He had more than enough time to take care of his guest by now, and I'm not going to waste my time anymore than I already had on waiting for him to grace us with his presence." Peyton said calmly, even though she was cringing on the inside at what she was about to do.

She would just have to suck it up and grow a pair. She wasn't about to mess up on her first day!

Happy's eyes got so big, they almost popped out of his head.

"But, he's not alone right now. Are you sure you want to see that?" Happy eyed the young blonde with apprehension.

He didn't know whether to be impressed by her guts or not.

"Mr. Hogan, I have seen and heard a lot of displeasing things in my life. If what I sae this morning hadn't scared me away, than nothing else will." She said as she returned his look with a much sterner one.

"Now, will you tell me where I can find him or will I have to look for him myself? I have a schedule to keep and I will not let all the hard work I did yesterday go to waste, because Mr. Stark is 'busy'."

Happy studied her for a few silent seconds, before responding.

"Last room at the end of the hallway on the right."

"That wasn't so hard, now was it? I'll go get Mr. Stark, you check to see if everyone had left. The team the maid service had sent will be here shortly." With that she turned around to climb the steps.

"If you get lost or need some help, just ask Jarvis." Happy's voice stopped her. She turned to face him.

"Jarvis? Is he upstairs? Because, I hadn't seen anyone down here when I came in this morning."

"He's everywhere in the entire house and company. Jarvis is the AI Tony created to help run this place." Happy informed the blonde and looked up to address Jarvis.

"Hey Jarv, say hello to the newest addition to the family. She'll be here with us for a while. If you're on mute, then unmute yourself. We'll be needing you soon, buddy."

After a few seconds, Jarvis finally spoke up.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you officially, Miss Potts. I must say, I'm quite impressed with how you take control. Something, I'm affraid, you'll have to do very often. Welcome to the Malibu Mansion." Peyton jumped a bit as a computerized voice addressed her in a perfect British accent.

"Uhm...thank you for the kind words, Jarvis. Although, this is just my first day. We will have to see about the rest." Peyton said mechanically, just how she was taught since childhood, when she would encountered a person she was unfamiliar with.

She wasn't exactly sure how to speak to it. Or rather him.

"It takes some time to get used to Jarvis. But trust me when I say this, Jarvis will come in handy when Tony gets difficult to deal with." Happ said as if Tony was a mere child, that likes to throw temper tantrums.

"Plus, you can tell him if you need anything done and he'll take care of it right away. He's like a security guard, secretary, friend and a whole lot of things, all in one." Happy added with a smile, wanting to ease his new colleague a bit. She kinda looked a little overwhelmed to him.

"I'll keep that in mind. It's very nice meeting you, Jarvis." With that Peyton climbed up the stairs.

"Hey Jarv, are all the people out of the mansion? I just want to make sure." Happy asked, hoping to see if a certain red haired woman was still in the mansion.

"Yes, Mr. Hogan. Everyone, besides Mr. Stark's female companions, have left this morning. Nothing had been stolen, but a lot of Mr. Stark's crystal glasses were broken last night during the party." Jarvis replied.

"Oh." Happy said dejectedly, before his brain froze as it fully registered the first part of what Jarvis had said.

" ** _Compainions?_** " He cried out in shock, jumping to his feet.

"Yes, sir. Mr. Stark has two female companions with him in his bathroom as we speak. Should I inform Mr. Stark that Miss Potts has arrived and on her way up?" Jarvis asked politely.

"Give him the heads up, Jarv. Although, I doubt it will help." Happy said as he ran up the stairs.

"Sir, what about the team the maid service has sent out? They will be here at approximately 6,2 seconds." Jarvis asked.

"There's no need to worry about that, Jarv. They already know what to do. You keep an eye on them, just in case." Happy said as he ran down the hall.

"Very well, sir." Jarvis said, even though Happy wasn't listening.

He was far too preoccupied trying to catch up with his new colleague and prevent her from seeing Tony in a rather compromising position with two bimbos.

Regardless of what Tony had said, she was still _too_ young to see _that_. Especially, with Tony in the picture!

He knew all too well how scaring seeing Tony _in action_ is from personal experience, and the poor girl **doesn't** need _that_ picture stuck in her head for the rest of her life.

* * *

Peyton finally reached the door of the master bedroom. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door three times and waited for a response.

A few seconds passed, before she tried again. Only harder this time.

When she didn't get a response from her boss once again, she listened intently for any kind of sound or movement.

"Jarvis, is anyone in the room right now?" Peyton asked the AI when she couldn't hear anything.

"Yes, Miss Potts. Mr. Stark and his..." Jarvis was interrupted when the door opened and two drunk and beautiful women walked out giggling.

"Hey Kelly, look it's number three." A ginger haired woman said drunkenly.

"Chelsea, I think it's Peyton Potts." Kelly replied with a laugh.

"Hey, you're right! I couldn't recog...reconize ( **A/N** : Not a mistake.) her in that outfit. I didn't know Peyton Potts was model number three." The silver haired woman said to her friend. Confusion showing on her caked up face.

"You're late, Missy Peyton Miss ( **A/N** : Again, not a mistake.). We waited all night for you. It's really rude of you to keep us waiting. You missed out on all the fun." The ginger scolded while hiccoughing.

"Excuse me?" Peyton eyed the two women as if they told her that the sun was blue.

She could honestly say that she had never been more confused in her entire life. They don't make any sense at all.

"You were supposed to be here, like..." The ginger haired woman stopped as she tried to calculate the amount of time.

"Hours ago." The other woman added in.

"Exactly! That was so so uncool of you, you know. We, like, really look up to you and everything." The other woman said as she scolded Peyton with a finger.

"I believe that you made the wrong conclusion, ladies." Peyton said as she figured out what the women were implaying.

(She mentally gagged at the thought of it. There was not a chance that _**that**_ would _**ever**_ happen. Ever!)

"I am not model number three. I wasn't supposed to be here at all last night. You must have confused me with someone else." Peyton explained to the two women slowly.

"Oh." They both said in unison, before the silver haired woman turned to her friend.

"She talks so fancy-like, right Chelsea?"

"Totally, Kelly. She talks like those really fancy old ladies or those cartoon princesses or something like that. It's, like, really troy cute." The ginger said giggling.

Peyton bit her tongue, barely withholding the urge to correct the woman.

She knew that, if she did, they would just go on and on for hours. And right now, she doesn't have the time to deal with them.

"I would have to thank my upbringing for that. Now, ladies, if you would..." Peyton stopped talking when she saw Happy running towards her.

"Peyton, wait, you..." Happy cried out in panic, before he saw the two women in front of his colleague.

"...already know." He finished and smiled sheepishly, feeling a little silly for shouting.

"Yes, I do." She said curtly, and then turned to face Happy.

"Now, Mr. Hogan, could you please escourt these two ladies to the door? Jarvis will call the taxi service to send one of their vehicles over once more. Please, stay with them until their transportation arrives. I'll go and see if Mr. Stark is awake and ready for the day." Peyton said curtly as she gently guided the two women over to Happy.

"The taxi will arrive shortly to pick the ladies up, Miss Potts." Jarvis said, making the women jump slightly, although Peyton hid her surprise very well.

"Thank you, Jarvis. I will send their payment shortly after I deal with Mr. Stark." Peyton said as she helped the ginger haired woman walk.

"You sure you have everything covered here, Peyton? You can wait for me and we can go in there together, if you want." Happy said.

He knew how difficult a drunk Tony could be. Plus, his mother taught him to never leave a lady alone in the company of. drunk or strange men.

And Tony was piss drunk and unable to think clearly. And his female colleague was very beautiful too.

Somehow, Happy didn't feel at ease leaving her to take care of their boss on her own.

"Thank you for the kind offer, Mr. Hogan, but I'll take care of this. Although, when you've escourted the ladies to their vehicle, come meet me up here, just in case Mr. Stark refuses to cooperate or listen to reason." Peyton said, walking towards the door of the master bedroom, after nodding her head at the two women in parting.

"Good luck, Peyton! You're gonna need it. Trust me." Happy said and guided the two women down the hallway.

"Bye bye, Missy Peyton." The women called out, before they started laughing as they stumbled down the hall with Happy in tow.

Peyton pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation.

She had a lot of work to get done for today and she would've gotten it done by now, if her boss wasn't so...well, him.

Walking into the extremely messy room, Peyton was almost knocked over by the overwhelming stench of strong perfume, stale air, sweat and alcohol.

'How in the world were they able to even breathe in here?' Peyton wondered as she stabled herself against a wall outside the room and placed a hand against her button shaped nose in order to block the stech from reaching her nostrils.

"Jarvis, open up a window or turn on the ventilation system. I don't care which one you choose to do, just as long as that room is no longer a gas chamber." Peyton ordered, making sure not to speak too long.

She didn't want to inhale that stench again, once was more than enough for her.

"Right away, Miss Potts." Jarvis said.

Not too long after that, Peyton could feel a breeze coming from within the room.

'Oh, thank God.' She thought as she released her nose, thankful that she was able to breathe normally again.

After waiting a few seconds outside for the air to clear up, Peyton cautiously walked back into the room.

Thankfully it was easier to breathe, but the sight of the messy room was quite the eye sore. Especially, for a neat and organized person like Peyton.

Avoiding (once again) to step on anything that looked out of the ordinary, Peyton looked around for her boss.

Suddenly, she heard a loud thud coming from, what Peyton could only assume was, the bathroom.

(It was a good thing too, for had it been silent for too long, Peyton would have made the assumption that Tony had trip and fallen over the railings.)

Slowly walking over towards the door, Peyton knocked gently, not wanting to alarm or startle the man.

"Mr. Stark, it's Peyton Potts, may I please come in?" Peyton tried with this approach.

Leaning closely, she could hear some random mumblings, hiccoughs and muted chuckles.

Sighing, she grasped the handle and gently opened the door.

There, on the cool white marble floor, her boss lay face down in a star position with a bottle of tequila in his hand, clad only in his grey boxer shorts.

As she neared the man, Peyton could hear him chuckling about one thing or another. It was plainly obvious that he was drunk out of his mind.

Glancing at her golden wrist watch, Peyton saw that it was almost 7:30. Which didn't give her exactly enough time to get her boss to sober out the proper way **and** prepare him for his 10 o'clock meeting with the DoD.

It looks like she had to do this the other way then. Sighing internally, Peyton called out softly.

"Mr. Stark?" The said man groaned loudly and looked up from the floor.

His vision was bleary at first, but after a few seconds everything came back into focus.

The first thing he saw, were a pair of dainty and perfectly pedicured feet incased in the sexiest and hottest pair of black strappy high heels he had ever seen.

Following the path of the very long, smooth, creamy and delicious looking legs, past the perfectly round hips, small waist, flat abdomen, full ample breasts, delicate neck to, finally, the woman's beautiful heart-shaped face and golden blonde curly hair.

He held eye contact with the woman for a few minutes. His coffee brown eyes never straying away from her deep sapphire blue irises.

Recognition finally kicked in his brain and he smiled wildly at the woman.

"Pepper!" Tony cried out, the large grin still remaining on his face.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stark?" Peyton looked at him as if he grew another head out of his neck.

"Pepper. That's my nickname for you. It fits you perfectly too. Hot as hell, your eyes fire up when your furious, and you took Happy out with a can of pepper spray. So, Pepper is your new nickname." Tony rambled excitedly as he explained his logic surprisingly well, considering he was drunk like hell.

Peyton on the other hand, stood shell-shocked. That wasn't what she was expecting to hear from her boss. But then again, Tony Stark was known for always doing things one would least expect.

"I have a name, Mr. Stark, one that I happen to like very much and I don't wish to change it. Thank you for the offer, but I have to decline. Besides, it's not proper for you to give me a nickname. We are not that close nor are we in a friendly relationship." Peyton said curtly as she took the bottle of tequila away from Tony, all the while ignoring the way he smelled.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that, Pep. I give everyone nicknames." He whined and stood up, wobbling a little as he did so.

"While that may be the case, Mr. Stark, I still prefer my name over that silly nickname of yours." She said as she helped him stabilize.

"Now, clean up and get dressed. We have work to do." Tony groaned and whined at the word 'work' and rooted himself in his spot, making it difficult for her to move him from it.

Peyton resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her boss' behavior. Seriously, a three year old has more maturity than him.

"Mr. Stark, please be reasonable, there's work that needs to be done and you can't ignore it forever." She would try the easier approach first. Something that she honestly shouldn't be even doing in the first place. It was _his_ company after all!

"I don't wanna go. I could be doing something a whole lot better than talking to a bunch of old farts!" Tony said and sat down on the toilet seat, stubbornly refusing to move.

Peyton clenched her fists and bit her lower lip. It took a lot of effort on her part not to rip her hair out or throttle the man.

It wasn't even lunch yet and she already felt the urge to drown her boss in his own toilet.

'So much for an easy and peaceful first day.' Peyton thought sarcastically and tried to reason with the man one more time.

"Think of it this way, sir. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can do whatever your heart desires. I promise you that the day will fly by." Tony gave her a small glare at that.

"I'm not stupid, Pepper. Drunk, probably. But, not stupid or naive. You aren't the first one who tried that old trick on me." Peyton bit the inside of her cheeks when he stuck his tongue out at her.

She had to fight really hard with her temper not to just bang his head against the first wall she sees, without it showing on her face.

Plus, it would just prove that the nickname he picked for her was extremely accurate.

"Mr. Stark, please try to understa..."

"You know, you really need to loosen up a bit." Tony said, interrupting her quite rudely and eyed her up and down.

Peyton immediately tensed and put her guard up.

"I think I know the perfect way to get you to loosen up and relax, Miss Potts." With a naughty grin, Tony took a hold of the young blonde's hand with a steely grip and pulled her to him, while leaning down towards her with his lips puckered up.

Peyton planted her feet firmly onto the floor, grasped the hand that held hers with her captive hand, pulled the man to her with it and sucker punched him with her right fist.

It all happened in split second.

One moment, Tony was on his feet and then he was flying through the air and slammed against a solid surface in the next, without being able to feel his jaw at all.

Peyton glared at the drunken fool with rage. He should count himself lucky she hadn't done something much more severe than that!

She absolutely hates it when that happens! What even gave people the right to...

Nope. She was not going to get worked up over that!

Taking a deep and calming breath, she walked over to the shower and without so much as a warning, turned on the water and closed the sliding door.

"AAAHH, COLD! COLD! COLD! **SHIT**! TURN IT OFF!" Tony yelled as he tried to avoid the ice cold rain coming from the shower head.

Peyton hadn't bat an eyelash at the man's cries and pleas as she watched him squirm under the cold water.

In that moment, Happy ran into the bathroom looking a little out of breath.

"Jarvis told me that there was a situation up here and that I needed to hurry up. What's going on in here?" He asked, panting for breath.

Peyton turned to look at him, her cold arctic glare still in place.

Happy, sensing danger, raised his hands up in front of his face in an act of defense.

"Help him clean up, while I go find something decent for him to wear." She said coldly and walked back into the bedroom, not even sparing the other man a glance as she did.

Happy regarded the young woman for a few brief seconds and turned to the shower stall.

"SHIT, TONY! ARE YOU OKAY?" Happy said, quickly sliding the door open and turned off the water, before helping the soaked man up.

"Do I **look** okay to you, Hogan? I'm freezing my balls off in here!" Tony hissed at the man.

"Damn, Tony. What the hell happened to you?" Happy asked, while handing his boss a towel.

"It's a little foggy to me right now, my head and back are throbbing with pain and my jaw is killing me!" Tony hissed in pain when he touched his swollen jaw.

"Maybe you fell on something?" Happy supplied.

"Like what? On the tub?" Tony glared at the man and walked over to the medicine cabinet.

"Hey, it happened to you before, ya know!" Happy protested.

"Man, I reek! What the hell have I been doing last night?" Tony wondered as he smelled himself.

"A lot of things. Some that I can't even remember very well myself." Happy said, rubbing his head as he tried to connect the dots from last night's party.

"I'm sure Jarvis has it all recorded. He's probably gonna use it against us someday." Tony whined as he took out pain killers from the cabinet.

"You make it sound as if Jarvis has a mind of his own, Tony." Happy said giving the man an unamused look as the dark haired man drank the pain meds.

"I **_know_** he has a mind of his own. Big difference there, Happs." Tony said as he took off wet boxers and walked over to the shower, stepping into it and turning on the warm water.

In that moment, Peyton briskly walked back into the bathroom, carring a pair of black sweatpants and white T-shirt.

"Mr. Hogan, could you please see to it that Mr. Stark gets dressed? I need do make a quick stop to the shopping centre. Apparently, Mr. Stark doesn't own a proper suit to wear to his meetings. I'll be back in 20 minutes." Peyton said sighing with annoyance as she gave Happy the articules of clothing and turned on her heel, leaving the bathroom.

"Hey Happs, could you pass me another towel?" Tony called out from the shower stall.

Happy grabbed the first towel he saw and threw it over Tony.

"Thanks, Happs. You're the best." Tony said and turned off the water.

A second later, he walked out of the stall feeling fresh and clean.

"Aw, honey. You fetched me some clothes too! I knew I made the right choice when I married you!" Tony teased as he took the clothing from Happy.

"Lay off, Tony. Peyton gave me these clothes to give them to you. She had to go to the mall and buy you a suit, she'll be back soon." Tony looked up at Happy, when he mentioned his new PA.

"Oh, she was here? I thought I imagined it. And why the hell is she buying me a suit for?" Tony said as he put on the white shirt.

"Oh, she was here alright. 6 o'clock on the dot to be precise. She got the opportunity of a lifetime to see the aftermath of one of your wild and crazy parties too." Happy said, giving Tony a harsh look, choosing not to answer his second question.

"You don't say? And what did Little Miss Sunshine do exactly?" Tony asked, walking out of the bedroom as he spoke.

"She assessed the situation and took care of it. She called Mike's taxi service to take all of the remaining guests home. Then, she called up that maid service you always call, to come and clean this place up." Happy reported and walked with his friend/boss downstairs.

"Not bad for a newbie. Did she get the coffee I asked for?" Tony asked, ignoring the people cleaning his home as he made his way to the kitchen.

Happy gave the cleaning crew an appreciative smile, hoping that it would make up for his friend's rudeness.

"Yup. But, she gave it to me, since you were otherwise busy with the two girls upstairs." Happy turned towards Tony.

"You drank my morning coffee? I should take that off your pay. Or just fire you. You know that I don't like sharing my stuff, Happs." Tony said in a serious tone as he started the coffee machine and took some frozen peas from the freezer.

"Hey, if you can get an early morning threesome, I can get some nice coffee for a change!" Happy protested in a whisper.

He didn't want the whole world to know what he was talking about with his boss/friend, after all.

"How exactly did Miss Potts manage to get everyone to leave? More than half of them were drunk out of their minds, if not everyone. How did she manage to send everyone off, _**and**_ get me to sober up in a time span of one hour?" Tony wondered.

Contrary to popular belief, he knew how his parties turn out better than anyone.

The drinks were free and easily available to everyone, meaning that a lot of people wind up drunk by the end of the night.

And to get everyone to sober up and leave quietly would take a whole lot of both time and effort on her part.

Not to mention that the blonde was very dainty and could be easily subduable. Especially, with a lot of horny men around.

So, how did she pull it off?

"I don't know how she managed to do that. I was a bit tipsy and sleepy, so I only reacted when I heard someone screaming. When I went in there, everyone was getting dressed and there was some guy whimpering on the floor."

"Whimpering?" Tony raised an eyebrow at that revelation.

"Yup. He was crying and everything." Happy said, before he took an apple and bit into it.

"Maybe there's more to my new PA, than what meets the eye." Tony mused.

"Well, to be completely fair, Tony, you already knew that she was a spitfire to begin with. Maybe you will actually grow up for a change with her around?" Happy said with a smirk on his face.

He wanted to laugh at his friend's misfortune. Seeing him cringing away from the frozen vegetables actually made his day a bit.

Now Tony knew how he felt a few months back, when _he_ needed an ice pack.

"You know that I can practically feel your desire to mock me, right?" Tony's voice brought him out of his reverie.

"With your luck, Tony, it's very hard not to. I do hope you know that." Happy quipped back.

"If I may say this, sir, but most of the time you deserve what's coming your way. Your tendency to rebel and make fun of people gets you in trouble at least 83% of the time. The remaining 17% of the time, it's your unhealthy habits and womanizing ways that create such a mess out of your life. Like today for instance, when you attempted to kiss Miss Potts by force and she punched you with her right 'hook', as you would say." Jarvis chimed in.

Tony and Happy looked at the ceiling with confusion dancing in their eyes and on their faces.

"Care to run that by me again, Jarv?" Tony said after a few minutes of silence.

"Miss Potts was trying to get you to sober up and get you ready for work, sir. She went into your bathroom to see if you were alright and spent 15 minutes trying to convince you to go to work. You refused to cooperate and were unable to stand on your own, Miss Potts helped you up and you used that moment to kiss her by force saying that you knew, and I quote: 'the perfect way to help her loosen up and relax' and pulled her towards you. Miss Potts saw what you were about to do, stood firmly on the floor, pulled you towards her and punched you with such remarkable strength, that you practically flew right into the shower stall, sir. Afterwards, she turned on the cold water and closed the stall door." Jarvis reiterated, leaving the two young men to drown in disbelief.

"WHAT?!" They cried out in unison, jumping up from their seats.

"I'M NOT A RAPIST! A PERVERT AND A WOMANIZER MAYBE, BUT NOT A RAPIST!" Tony protested loudly (and groaned in pain as his jaw started throbbing all over again), without feeling a bit of shame that the other people in the next room might hear him.

"No wonder she was so pissed off. Damn it, Tony!" Happy hissed, punching the other man in the arm.

"Hey! I wasn't aware of what was going on around me at the time, Happy! In case you forgot, I was drunk! Do you seriously believe I'm that big of a bastard and asshole to stoop so low as to force myself on an unwilling woman? 'Cuz I'm not, you idiot!" Tony hissed back, rubbing the sore spot on his arm and then pressing the frozen peas to his face.

"It doesn't matter what _**I**_ believe, you bonehead! If she presses charges against you, you will be in some very deep shit. You need to fix this, right now!" Happy growled at his idiotic friend and boss.

"I know what I need to do, Happy! So, please, stop getting on my case!" Tony hissed through his teeth.

Happy looked like he was about to add something, but Tony cut him off by looking up to address Jarvis.

"Jarvis, have I done anything else besides trying to steal a kiss from Miss Potts?"

"Besides oggling her, you called her 'Pepper', sir." Jarvis replied right away.

"Pepper? Really, Tony?" Happy gave the billionaire a flat look.

The said billionaire had a contemplating look on his face.

"Out of the five nicknames I had in mind for her, I pick one that wasn't even considered. Pepper. That's so random, but oddly enough kinda fits. It's catchy, easier to pronounce and makes a whole lot of sense." Tony stated and tested the newly found nickname a few more times.

Happy hit himself over the head and groaned.

There were times he really wanted to beat the young billionaire to a bloody pulp. He really really did. Now, more than ever before.

Just then, the newly nicknamed Pepper walked in, carrying a large grey garmet bag over her shoulder and a medium-sized blue bag in her right hand.

"Finally sober, I see." She stated coldly.

"Pe..." Tony began before Peyton interrupted him.

"I bought you two formal suits and a pair of socks and shoes to go with it. I hope that I bought the proper sized clothing, because it's the only formal wear you have right now, Mr. Stark. I estimated your size judging by the clothes you have in your closet." She walked over to him and pushed the bags into his hands with a little more force than necessary.

"Go upstairs and change. You have a meeting with the DoD at 10 o'clock and three more afterwards. I will give you a brief summery as to what the main topics will be and on what you should focus on. Now, hurry up." Turning away from her dumbfounded boss, Peyton addressed Happy in a much more kinder tone than the one she used with Tony.

"Mr. Hogan, could you please help Mr. Stark get ready for his meeting? I doubt that he even knows how to properly put on a tie, let alone an entire suit. Meanwhile, I will be in the living room, sending out payments to the maid and taxi service and see to that the vehicles outside are sent back to their owners. You have 15 minutes gentlemen, don't make me wait." With that she walked out of the kitchen, leaving the two men to stare after her in silence.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked, not really expecting an answer.

"You got in way over your head with this one, Tony. But, that might be a very good thing. For one thing, you will start acting your age." Happy said, a grin beginning to form on his handsome face.

"She will manhandle me and boss me around from now on, won't she?"

"And bust your balls if you piss her off, oh yes she will. But look on the bright side, she could have scheduled 10 meetings for today instead of 4." Happy chuckled.

Tony groaned at the mere thought. He wouldn't put it passed her not to do just that. Her laser sharp glare foretold nothing but hell for him.

He groaned again.

"I can't believe that I have to deal with this shit." Tony whined, pressing the peas into his face as he let out a whine at the back of his throat.

"Come on, Tony. The sooner get you dressed up, the sooner we can go to that meeting with the DoD. With any luck, Rhodey might be there. I bet he would really love to see your new threads." Happy said and started to laugh as the look of horror crossed on Tony's face.

"Oh man, Rhodey's gonna be there! The minute he sees me in a monkey suit, he'll know that I got whipped." Tony whined and groaned at the same time.

Happy only laughed harder at his friend's claim.

"Oh, fuck me and fuck me sideways!" Was the last thing Tony said, before Happy dragged him upstairs.

* * *

And that will be all for now, my dear readers! I'm really sorry you had to wait so long for an update, but believe it or not, I've been writing this chapter since the middle of August.

On top of writing this chapter, I had to study and prepare for my exams, take care of some of my friends' fics on other sites, edit the first chapter of this fic and live my everyday life.

So, please don't expect me to update soon. I will try, but I can't promise anything right now.

Also, Terrence Howard will be Rhodey in this fic and Tobey Maguire will be Spiderman.

No offence to the other actors, they are great and everything, but no one can beat Tobey.

Now, I now some of you may disagree, but this is my fic.

Since I will be adding The Fantastic Four in here as well, unfortunately I will have to replace Chris Evans with Eric Christian Olsen.

I can't have Captain America and The Human Torch look like identical twins. So yeah, minor set back.

Again, sorry if there were mistakes in the chapter. I will try to find them and correct them as soon as I can.

If you notice something or if you have any kind of request or question, review or send me a PM.

I hope you liked Pepper's first day on the job. It took me a while to connect my ideas and just write them down.

Here is the translation from the foreign words from above:

(If anyone understands Turkish, I'm sorry if it's mispelled or put in the wrong context. I used Google translate for it, and we all know how accurate Google translate is.)

 **Peyton hanim, burada ne yapıyorsun? - Miss Peyton, what are you doing here?**

 **Bana sormak için büyük bir döngü var, Zeynep. Özellikle de bu sahneden sonra gördüm. - You've got a lot of nerve asking me that, Zeynep. Especially, after the scene I just stumbled upon.**

 **Hiç beynini kullandın mı? Bu aptalla boğazını kandırman nasıl bir utanç değildi? Bu insanların önünde! - Do you even use that brain? Have you felt no shame for messing around with this idiot? In front of all these people no less!**

 **Hiçbir zarar vermedik, sadece eğleniyordum. - We weren't doing anything wrong, we were just having some fun.**

 **Affet benim, Peyton hanim. - Please forgive me, Miss Peyton.**

 **Neyse ki, benim mürebbiye benimle gelmedi. Aksi takdirde, baban ve annen derhal duyar. Baban o zaman canlı olarak seni yakabilirdi. - Fortunately for you, my governess didn't come with me today. Because if she did, your parents would have heard about this right away. Your father would have set you on fire.**

 **Aileme söylemeyeceksin, değil mi? - You won't tell my parents, will you?**

 **Dün gece Ayşe ve Zehra ile geldim. Ancak, şu an nerede olduklarını bilmiyorum. - I came here with Ayşe and Zehra. They were with me last night, but I don't know where they are right now.**

 **Neden sürpriz değilim? - Why am I not surprised?**

 **Git giyin, sonra Ayşe ve Zehra'yı bulun. Sizi eve götürecek taksi çağırayım. Onları bulamazsanız ya da birileri size sorun yaşarsa, hemen beni arayın. Beni anlıyor musun? - Go get dressed, then go find Ayşe and Zehra. I will call a taxi to come and pick you up. If you can't find them or if anyone gives you trouble of any kind, call me immediately. Do you understand me?**

 **Günaydın bayanlar. Dün gece iyi vakit geçirdin mi? - Good morning, ladies. Did you have a good time last night?**

 **Sohbet havasında değil misin? Eh, eğer senin yerinde olsaydım, ben de onun için ruh hali olmazdı. Hadi, dışarıda sizi bekleyen bir araba var. Her şeyin yanında mısın? Hiçbir şeyi kaybetmediniz mi, unutmadınız mı? - Have nothing to say? Well, if I had been in your position, I wouldn't have been in the mood to talk either. Come on, there is a car waiting for you outside. But, before we leave, have you brought everything with you? You didn't forget anything, yes?**

 **Çok iyi, gidelim. - Very well, let's go.**

Thank you for reading this chapter. Leave a Review, if you really liked it. I promise you that I won't let you down :)

Please, don't forget to review!

Love you and I'll see you soon!


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